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*     THE  STATE  OF  RELIGION.  | 


OP  THE 

Theological  Seminary, 

PRINCETON,  N..I. 

BX  5199   .H4  S65  1829 
Heber,  Reginald,  1783-1826. 
Some  account  of  the  life  of C 
Reginald  Heber  i" 


Digitized  by  tlie  Internet  Arcliive 
in  2015 


littps;//arcliive.org/details/someaccountoflifOOIiebe 


SOME  ACCOUNT 


THE  LIFE 


REGINALD  HEBER,  D.D. 


BISHOP  OF  CALCUTTA. 


BOSTON : 
PUBLISHED  BY  CROCKER  AND  BREWSTER, 

47,  WASHINGTON  STREET. 

NEW  YORK:  J.  LEAVITT, 

182,  BROADWAY- 


1829. 


C  ONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Birth,  Parentage,  and  Education  of  Reginald  Heber — bis 
distinction  at  Oxford — Palestine  1 

CHAPTER  II. 
Heber's  Travels  in  Russia,  tlie  Crimea,  and  Germany  ,  8 

CHAPTER  IIL 
Heber  reiunis  to  England — takes  orders — marries — and  set- 
tles at  Hodnet  56 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Poems  published — Canon  of  St.  Asaph — Bamptoii  Lectures — 
Heber  elected  Preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn — Life  of  Jeremy 
Taylor  69 

CHAPTER  V. 

Heber  invited  to  take  upon  him  the  Charge  of  the  Clnirch  in 
India — he  declines — and  on  further  consideration  accepts 
it — consecrated  Bishop  of  Calcutta — Address  to  the  Society 
for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge— embarks  for  India — 
Voyage   88 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
India — aiTival  in  Calcutta — First  Visitation  ....  116 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Voyage  up  the  Ganges — ^Visitation  of  the  Upper  Provin- 
ces  •  140 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Return  to  Calcutta — Second  Visitation — The  Bishop  at  Ma- 
dras— at  Tanjore — at  Trichinopoly — Death  of  Heber  223 


Inscription  on  the  Monument  erected  in  Memory  of  Bishop 
Heber,  at  Madras.  Composed  by  tlie  Rev.  Thomas  Rob- 
inson, M.  A  237 


Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  Bishop  Heber.   By  Felicia  He- 
mans  239 


1.1  FE 

OF 

REGINALD  HEBER, 

BISHOP  OF  CALCUTTA 


More  sweet  than  odours  caught  by  him  who  sails 
Near  spicy  shores  of  Araby  the  blest, 
A  thousand  times  more  exquisitely  sweet. 
The  freight  of  holy  feeling  which  we  meet. 
In  thoughtful  moments,  wafted  by  the  gales 
From  fields  where  good  men  loalk,  or  bowers  wherein 
they  rest. 

WORDSWORTH'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  SKETCHES. 


LIFE 

OF 

REGINALD  HEBER, 

BISHOP  OF  CALCUTTA. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Birth,  Parentage  and  Education  of  Reginald  Heher — 
his  distinction  at  Oxford — Palestine. 

The  character  of  Reginald  Heber,  late 
Bishop  of  Calcutta,  is  one  on  which  readers  of 
every  sect  and  party,  religious  and  political, 
may  agree  to  dwell  with  delight.  To  the 
scholar  his  enthusiastic  industry  in  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge,  the  extent  of  his  accomplish- 
ments, the  refinement  of  his  taste,  and  the 
elegant  works  of  his  genius,  will  ever  afford 
gratifying  and  improving  subjects  of  contem- 
plation. Throughout  his  life  and  his  writings, 
it  is  impossible  not  to  trace  the  career  of  a 
sincere,  sober,  enlightened  patriot.  His  ser- 
1 


2 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


vices  to  the  Church  of  Christ  have  not,  per- 
haps, been  surpassed  in  any  Hfetime  of  equal 
duration.  Nor  are  these  conspicuous  merits 
dimmed  or  tarnished  to  pubUc  view,  by  any 
admixture  of  such  faults  of  personal  temper  as 
are  often  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  best 
and  greatest.  In  every  relation  of  life  he  ap- 
pears to  have  devoutly  done  his  duty,  and  at 
the  same  time  done  it  so  humbly  and  affection- 
ately, as  to  endear  himself  to  all  with  whom  he 
was  connected.  Few  men  had  more  friends  ; 
and  he  never  made  an  enemy.  The  early 
death  of  one  by  whom  so  much  had  been  done, 
and  from  whom  so  much  more  might  have 
been  expected,  and  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  was  thus  untimely  removed,  falling 
a  sacrifice  in  the  prime  of  his  days  to  the  over- 
abundance of  zeal  with  which  he  pursued  the 
service  of  humanity  and  religion,  on  a  remote 
shore,  among  half-civilized,  ignorant  and  be- 
nighted strangers,  and  in  a  climate  to  which 
his  constitution  was  ill-adapted,  have  invested 
his  name  and  memory  with  a  deep  and  uni- 
versal interest. 

It  is  understood  that  a  detailed  Memoir  of 
Bishop  Heber's  life  is  in  the  course  of  prepa- 


FAMILT. 


3 


ration,  by  the  person  who  knew  and  loved  him 
the  best.  In  the  mean  time  we  venture  to 
collect  such  scattered  particulars  as  have  been 
published  by  writers  having  access  to  authentic 
sources  of  intelligence,  and  present  them  in 
one  connected  view. 

The  family  of  Heber  have  long  been  settled 
at  Martoun-Hall,  in  Craven,  and  classed  with 
the  most  respectable  gentry  of  the  county  of 
York.  Reginald,  father  to  the  Bishop,  and 
second  son  of  Thomas  Heber,  Esq.  of  Mar- 
toun,  was  born  in  1728,  and  educated  at  Bra- 
zen-nose College,  O.xford,  where  he  afterwards 
acted  as  Tutor  during  many  years,  with  much 
reputation.  His  elder  brother  dying  shortly 
after  Mr.  Heber  had  taken  holy  orders,  he 
came  early  into  possession  of  the  family  estate 
of  Martoun,  and,  later  in  life,  of  that  also  of 
Hodnet,  in  Shropshire,  which  had  descended 
to  his  mother  from  her  kinsman.  Sir  Thomas 
Vernon,  Bart.,  the  last  male  of  an  old  and 
honorable  hneage.  Together  with  these  es- 
tates Mr.  Heber  held  the  living  of  Malpas,  in 
Cheshire,  and  subsequently,  on  his  own  pre- 
sentation as  lord  of  that  m<anor,  the  rectory  of 
Hodnet.     He  was  twice  married  :  first,  ia 


4 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


1773,  to  Mary,  the  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Martm  Baylie,  Rector  of  Kelsall,  in  Suffolk, 
by  whom  he  had  one  son,  Richard  Heber, 
Esq.,  well  known  in  the  literary  world,  and 
Member  of  Parliament,  till  lately,  for  the 
University  of  Oxford  :  secondly,  in  1782,  to 
Mary,  daughter  of  Dr.  Cuthbert  Allanson, 
Rector  of  Wrath,  in  Yorkshire,  by  whom  he 
had  one  daughter  and  two  sons  ;  the  elder  of 
whom  was  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 

Reginald  Heber,  late  Bishop  of  Calcutta, 
was  born  at  Malpas  on  the  21st  of  April, 
1783.  '  In  his  childhood,'  says  an  evidently 
well-informed  writer,  '  he  was  remarkable  for 
the  eagerness  with  which  he  read  the  Bible, 
and  the  accuracy  with  which  he  remembered 
it  ;  a  taste  and  talent  which  subsequent  ac- 
quirements and  maturer  years  only  served  to 
strengthen,  so  that  a  great  portion  of  his  read- 
ing was  intended,  or  at  least  was  employed,  to 
illustrate  the  Scriptures.  He  received  his 
early  education  at  the  grammar-school  of 
Whitechurch,  whence  he  was  afterwards  sent 
to  Dr.  Bristowe,  a  gentleman  who  took  pupils 
near  London.  His  subsequent  career  at  Ox- 
ford, where  he  was  entered  of  Brazen-nose 


UNIVERSITY  PRIZES  PALESTINE.  5 

College,  in  1800,  proved  how  well  his  youthful 
studies  had  been  directed,  and  how  diligently 
pursued.  The  University  prizes  for  Latin 
verse,  for  the  English  poem,  and  for  the  Eng- 
lish prose-essay,  were  successively  awarded 
him  ;  and  "  Palestine"  received  the  higher 
and  rarer  compliment  of  public  and  universal 
praise.  Such  a  poem,  composed  at  such  an 
age,  has  indeed  some,  but  not  many,  parallels 
in  our  language.  Its  copious  diction, — its 
perfect  numbers, — its  images,  so  well  chosen, 
diversified  so  happily,  and  treated  with  so 
much  discretion  and  good  taste, — the  transi- 
tions from  one  period  to  another  of  the  history 
of  the  Holy  Land,  so  dexterously  contrived, — 
and,  above  all,  the  ample  knowledge  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  of  writings  illustrative  of  Scripture, 
displayed  in  it — all  these  things  might  have 
seemed  to  bespeak  the  work  of  a  man  who 
"  had  been  long  choosing,  and  begun  late," 
rather  than  of  a  stripling  of  nineteen.  Some 
few  of  our  University  English  prize-poems 
have  had  an  ephemeral  reputation  beyond  the 
precincts  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford  ;  but 
"  Palestine"  is  almost  the  only  one  that  has 
maintained  its  honours  unimpaired,  and  enti- 
1* 


6 


BISHOP  HEBEU. 


tied  itself,  after  the  lapse  of  years,  to  be  con- 
sidered the  property  of  the  nation.' 

The  poet's  father,  now  at  a  very  advanced 
age,  but  still  retaining  the  vivacity  of  his  mind 
and  affections,  was  present  in  the  Sheldonian 
Theatre  when  Palestine  was  pronounced  from 
the  rostrum  by  its  youthful  author  ;  and  wit- 
nessed the  scene  with  feelings  which  parents 
only  can  understand.  The  verses  were  admi- 
rably delivered,  listened  to  in  profound  silence, 
and  rapturously  applauded  by  a  large  and  most 
brilliant  audience.  The  couplet  describing  the 
building  of  the  Temple, 

'  No  workman  steel,  no  ponderous  axes  rung. 
Like  some  tall  palm  the  noiseless  fabric  sprung,' 

was  particularly  admired  then,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  so.  But  the  liveliest  sensation  at 
the  moment  v,  as  probably  excited  by  the  verses 
in  which  the  author  alluded  to  the  then  recent 
expedition  of  Buonaparte  into  Palestine,  and 
his  discomfiture  at  Acre  by  the  party  of  British 
seamen  under  the  command  of  Sir  Sydney 
Smith — 

'  When  he,  from  towery  Blaltu's  yieliling  isle 
And  tlie  green  waters  of  reluctant  IS'ile, 
The  apostate  chief — from  Blisraim's  subject  shore 


UNU'ERSITY  PRIZES. 


7 


To  Acre's  walls  his  tropliied  banners  bore; 
When  the  pale  desert  niark'd  his  proud  array. 
And  Desolation  Iio|ied  an  ampler  sway; 
What  hero  then  ti  iumphant  Gaul  dismayed  1 
What  arm  repelled  the  victor-renegade  1 
Britannia's  champion  ! — bathed  in  hostile  blood 
High  on  the  breach  the  dauntless  seaman  stood  : 
Admiring  Asia  saw  tlie  unequal  fight, — 
Even  tlie  pale  crescent  blessed  the  Clu-istian's  might.* 

Mr.  Heber,  the  father,  died  in  the  begin- 
ning of  1804.  In  the  summer  of  1805  Regi- 
nald gained  the  prize  for  an  EngHsh  Essay- 
on  the  Sense  of  Honour  ;  thus  carrying  away, 
in  succession,  all  the  honours  of  this  kind 
which  his  University  offers  for  the  competition 
of  her  sons  ;  and,  shortly  after  taking  his  de- 
srree  of  A.B.,  was  elected  a  fellow  of  All 
Souls'  College — a  society  in  the  highest  de- 
gree select  and  distinguished. 


8 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


CHAPTER  II 

Heber's  Travels  in  Russia,  the  Crimea  and  Germany. 

Heber  now  prepared  to  make  the  tour  of 
such  parts  of  Europe  as  were  accessible  at  the 
period  to  EngHsh  travellers.  In  company  with 
his  friend,  Mr.  John  Thornton,  he  visited 
several  of  the  German  states,  Russia,  and  the 
Crimea  ;  and  some  extracts  from  the  journal 
which  he  kept  throughout  these  peregrinations, 
having  been  printed  as  notes  to  the  great  work 
of  Dr.  Edward  Daniel  Clarke,  excited  a  strong 
Avish  that  the  whole  should  be  made  public. 
This  has  not  yet  been  done  ;  and  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  transcribing  a  few  frag- 
ments— which,  however,  may  well  detain  at- 
tention, when  it  is  remembered  that  they  are 
the  productions  of  a  traveller  of  two  or  three- 
and-twenty.  They  exhibit,  in  effect,  the  same 
accuracy  of  observation,  the  same  power  of 
picturesque  description,  and  much  of  the  same 
enlarged  views,  which  have  since  been  so  fully 


i 


TRAVELS  IN  RUSSIA. 


9 


developed  in  his  Indian  Journals  and  Corre- 
spondence. 

The  following  is  Heber's  account  of  a  visit 
which  he  and  his  friend,  Mr.  Thornton,  paid  to 
the  celebrated  Plato,  Archbishop  of  Moscow, 
in  the  Convent  of  Befania.  The  information 
it  afforded  of  the  sentiments  of  the  Russian 
clergy  was  highly  important  at  the  time  of 
Clarke's  first  publication,  and  is  still  curious 
and  interesting. 

'  The  space  beneath  the  rocks  is  occupied 
by  a  small  chapel,  furnished  with  a  stove  for 
winter  devotion  ;  and  on  the  right-hand  is  a  lit- 
tle narrow  cell,  containing  two  coffins  ;  one  of 
which  is  empty,  and  destined  for  the  present 
archbishop  ;  the  other  contains  the  bones  of 
the  founder  of  the  monastery,  who  is  regarded 
as  a  saint.  The  oak  coffin  was  almost  bit  to 
pieces  by  different  persons  afflicted  with  the 
tooth-ache  ;  for  which  a  rub  on  this  board  is  a 
specific.  Plato  laughed  as  he  told  us  this  ; 
but  said,  "  As  they  do  it  de  bon  cceur,  I  would 
not  undeceive  them."  This  prelate  has  been 
long  very  famous  in  Russia,  as  a  man  of  ability. 
His  piety  has  been  questioned  ;  but  from  his 
conversation  we  drew  a  very  favourable  idea  of 


10 


BISHOP  liEBER. 


him.  Some  of  his  expressions  would  have  ra- 
ther surprised  a  very  strict  rehgionist  ;  but  the 
frankness  and  openness  of  his  manners,  and  the 
liberaUty  of  his  sentiments,  pleased  us  highly. 
His  frankness  on  subjects  of  politics  was  re- 
markable. The  clergy  throughout  Russia  are, 
I  believe,  inimical  to  their  government  ;  they 
are  more  connected  with  the  peasants  than  most 
other  classes  of  men, and  are  strongly  interested 
in  their  sufferings  and  oppressions  ;  to  many  of 
which  they  themselves  are  likewise  exposed. 
They  marry  very  much  among  the  daughters 
and  sisters  of  their  own  order,  and  form  almost 
a  caste.  I  think  Buonaparte  rather  popular 
among  them.  Plato  seemed  to  contemplate  his 
success  as  an  inevitable,  and  not  very  alarming 
prospect.  He  refused  to  draw  up  a  Form  of 
Prayer  for  the  success  of  the  Russian  arms. 
"  If,"  said  he,  "  they  be  really  penitent  and 
contrite,  let  them  shut  up  their  places  of  public 
amusement  for  a  month,  and  I  will  then  cele- 
brate public  prayers."  His  expressions  of  dis- 
like to  the  nobles  and  wealthy  classes  were 
strong  and  singular  ;  as  also  the  manner  in 
which  he  described  the  power  of  an  Emperor 
of  Russia,  the  dangers  which  surround  him,  and 


RUSSIAN  PEASANTRY. 


11 


the  improbability  of  any  rapid  improvement. 
"  It  would  be  much  better,"  said  he,  "  had  we 
a  constitution  like  that  of  England."  Yet  I 
suspect  he  does  not  wish  particularly  well  to 
us,  in  our  war  with  France.' 

In  another  chapter  is  the  following  masterly 
sketch  of  the  state  of  the  Russian  peasantry: — 

'  We  observed  a  striking  difference  between 
the  peasants  of  the  croion  and  those  of  indi- 
viduals. The  former  are  almost  all  in  compa- 
ratively easy  circumstances.  Their  abrock,  or 
rent,  is  fixed  at  five  roubles  a  year,  all  charges 
^  included:  and  as  they  are  sure  that  it  will  never 
be  raised,  they  are  more  industrious.  The 
peasants  belonging  to  the  nobles  have  their 
abrock  regulated  by  their  means  of  getting  mo- 
ney, at  an  average,  throughout  the  empire,  of 
eight  or  ten  roubles.  It  then  becomes  not  a 
rent  for  land,  but  a  downright  tax  on  their  in- 
dustry. Each  male  peasant  is  obliged,  by  law, 
to  labour  three  days  in  each  week  for  his  pro- 
prietor. This  law  takes  effect  on  his  arriving 
at  the  age  of  fifteen.  If  the  proprietor  choos- 
es to  employ  him  the  other  days,  he  may;  as, 
for  example,  in  a  manufactory:  but  he  then 
finds  him  in  food  and  clothing.    Mutual  ad- 


12 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


vantage,  however,  generally  relaxes  this  law; 
and,  excepting  such  as  are  selected  for  domes- 
tic servants,  or,  as  above,  are  employed  in 
manufactories,  the  slave  pays  a  certain  abrock, 
or  rent,  to  be  allowed  to  work  all  the  week  on 
his  o^vn  account.  The  master  is  bound  to 
furnish  him  with  a  house  and  a  certain  portion 
of  land.  The  allotment  of  land  is  generally 
settled  by  the  Starosta  (Elder  of  the  village) 
and  a  meeting  of  the  peasants  themselves.  In 
the  same  manner,  when  a  master  wants  an  in- 
crease of  rent,  he  sends  to  the  Starosta,  who 
convenes  the  peasants;  and  by  this  assembly  it 
is  decided  what  proportion  each  individual 
must  pay.  If  a  slave  exercise  any  trade  which 
brings  him  in  more  money  than  agricultural 
labour,  he  pays  a  higher  abrock.  If  by  jour- 
neys to  Petersburg,  or  other  cities,  he  can 
still  earn  more,  his  master  permits  his  absence, 
but  his  abrock  is  raised:  the  smallest  earnings 
are  subject  to  his  oppression.  The  peasants 
employed  as  drivers,  at  the  post-houses,  pay 
an  abrock  out  of  the  drink-money  they  receive, 
for  being  permitted  to  drive  ;  as,  otherwise,  the 
master  might  employ  them  in  other  less  profit- 
able labour,  on  his  own  account.    The  aged 


RUSSIAN  PEASANTRY. 


13 


and  infirm  are  provided  with  food,  and  raiment, 
and  lodging,  at  their  owner's  expense.  Such 
as  prefer  casual  charity  to  the  miserable  pit- 
tance they  receive  from  their  master,  are  fre- 
quently furnished  with  passports,  and  allowed 
to  seek  their  fortune;  but  they  sometimes  pay 
an  abrocic  even  for  this  permission  to  beg.  The 
number  of  beggars  in  Petersburg  is  very  small; 
as  when  one  is  found  he  is  immediately  sent 
back  to  his  owner.  In  Moscow,  and  other 
towns,  they  are  numerous;  though  I  think  less 
so  than  in  London.  They  beg  with  great 
modesty,  in  a  low  and  humble  tone  of  voice, 
frequently  crossing  themselves,  and  are  much 
less  clamorous  and  importunate  than  a  Lon- 
don beggar. 

'  The  master  has  the  power  of  correcting  his 
slaves,  by  blows  or  confinement  ;  but  if  he  be 
guilty  of  any  great  cruelty,  he  is  amenable  to 
the  laws;  which  are,  we  are  told,  executed  in 
this  point  with  impartiality.  In  one  of  the 
towers  of  Khitaigorod,  at  Moscow,  there  was  a 
Countess  Sohikof  confined  for  many  years  with 
a  most  unrelenting  severity,  which  she  merited, 
for  cruelty  to  her  slaves.  Instances  of  barba- 
rity are,  however,  by  no  means  rare.  At 
2 


14  BISHOP  HEBER. 

Kostroma,  the  sister  of  Mr.  Kotchetof,  the 
governor,  gave  me  an  instance  of  a  nobleman 
who  had  nailed  (if  I  understood  her  right) 
HIS  SERVANT  TO  A  CROSS.  The  mastcr  was  sent 
to  a  monastery,  and  the  business  hushed  up. 
Domestic  servants,  and  those  employed  in 
manufactories,  as  they  are  more  exposed  to 
cruelty,  so  they  sometimes  revenge  themselves 
in  a  terrible  manner.  The  brother  of  a  lady 
of  our  acquaintance,  who  had  a  great  distillery, 
disappeared  suddenly,  and  was  pretty  easily 
guessed  to  have  been  thrown  into  a  boiling 
copper  by  his  slaves.  We  heard  another  in- 
stance,though  not  from  equally  good  authority, 
of  a  lady,  now  in  Moscow,  who  had  been  poi- 
soned three  several  times  by  her  servants. 

'  No  slave  can  quit  his  village,  or  his  mas- 
ter's family,  without  a  passport.  Any  person 
arriving  in  a  town  or  village,  must  produce  his 
to  the  Starosta;  and  no  one  can  harbour  a 
stranger  without  one.  If  a  person  be  found 
dead  without  a  passport,  his  body  is  sent  to 
the  hospital  for  dissection;  of  which  we  saw 
an  instance.  The  punishment  of  living  runa- 
ways, is  imprisonment  and  hard  labour  in  the 
government  works;  and  a  master  may  send  to 


RUSSIAN  PEASANTRY. 


15 


the  public  workhouse  any  peasant  he  chooses. 
The  prisons  of  Moscow  and  Kostroma  were 
chiefly  filled  with  such  runaway  slaves,  who 
were,  for  the  most  part,  in  irons.  On  the 
frontier,  they  often  escape;  but  in  the  interior 
it  is  almost  impossible:  yet,  during  the  sum- 
mer, desertions  are  very  common;  and  they 
sometimes  lurk  about  for  many  months,  living 
miserably  in  the  woods.  This  particularly 
happens  when  there  is  a  new  levy  of  soldiers. 
The  soldiers  are  levied,  one  from  every  certain 
number  of  peasants,  at  the  same  time  all  over 
the  empire.  But  if  a  man  be  displeased  with 
his  slave,  he  may  send  him  for  a  soldier  at  any 
time  he  pleases,  and  take  a  receipt  from  govern- 
ment; so  that  he  send  one  man  less  the  next 
levy.  He  also  selects  the  recruits  he  sends  to 
government;  with  this  restriction,  that  they  are 
young  men,  free  from  disease,  have  sound 
teeth,  and  are  five  feet  two  inches  high. 

'  The  Starosta,  of  whom  mention  has  been 
so  frequently  made,  is  an  officer  resembling  the 
ancient  bailiff  of  an  English  village.  He  is 
chosen,  we  are  told,  (at  least  generally,)  by  the 
peasants;  sometimes  annually,  and  sometimes 
for  life.    He  is  answerable  for  the  abrocks  to 


16 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


the  lord;  decides  small  disputes  among  the 
peasants;  gives  billets  for  quarters  to  soldiers, 
or  to  government  officers,  on  a  journey,  &c. 
Sometimes  the  proprietor  claims  the  right  of 
appointing  the  Starosta. 

'  A  slave  can  on  no  pretence  be  sold  out  of 
Russia,  nor  in  Russia,  to  any  but  a  person  born 
noble,  or,  if  not  noble,  having  the  rank  of  lAetite- 
nant- Colonel.  This  rank  is  not  confined  to  the 
military;  it  may  be  obtained  by  them  in  civil 
situations.  (Professor  Pallas  had  the  rank  of 
Brigadier.)  This  law  is,  however,  eluded:  as 
roturiers  (plebians)  frequently  purchase  slaves 
for  hire,  by  making  use  of  the  name  of  some 
privileged  person;  and  all  nobles  have  the  pri- 
vilege of  letting  out  their  slaves. 

'  Such  is  the  political  situation  ofthepeasant. 
With  regard  to  his  comforts  or  means  of  sup- 
porting existence,  I  do  not  think  they  are  de- 
ficient. Their  houses  are  in  tolerable  repair, 
moderately  roomy,  and  well  adapted  to  the 
habits  of  the  people.  They  have  the  air  of 
being  sufiiciently  fed,  and  their  clothing  is 
warm  and  substantial.  Fuel,  food,  and  the 
materials  for  building,  are  very  cheap;  but 
clothing  is  dear.    In  summer  they  generally 


RUSSIAN  PEASANTRY.  17 

wear  Nantkin  caftans,  one  of  which  costs  thir- 
teen roubles.  Their  labkas  (linden-bark  san- 
dals) cost  nothing,  except  in  great  towns. 
They  wear  a  blue  Nantkin  shirt,  trimmed  with 
red,  which  costs  two  or  three  roubles;  linen 
drawers;  and  linen  or  hempen  rags  wrapped 
round  their  feet  and  legs,  over  which  the  richer 
sort  draw  their  boots.  The  sheep-skin  schauh 
costs  eight  roubles,  but  it  lasts  a  long  time;  as 
does  a  lamb-skin  cap,  which  costs  three  rou- 
bles. The  common  red  cap  costs  about  the 
same.  For  a  common  cloth  caftan,  such  as 
the  peasants  sometimes  wear,  we  were  asked 
thirty  roubles.  To  clothe  a  Russian  peasant 
or  a  soldier  is,  I  apprehend,  three  times  as 
chargeable  as  in  England.  Their  clothing, 
however,  is  strong,  and,  being  made  loose  and 
wide,  lasts  longer.  It  is  rare  to  see  a  Rus- 
sian quite  in  rags.  With  regard  to  the  idle- 
ness of  the  lower  classes  here  of  which  we  had 
heard  great  complaints,  it  appears,  that,  where 
they  have  an  interest  in  exertion,  they  by  no 
means  want  industry,  and  have  just  the  same 
wish  for  luxuries  as  other  people.  Great  pro- 
prietors who  never  raise  their  abrocks,  such  as 
Count  Sheremetof,  have  very  rich  and  pros- 
2* 


18 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


perous  peasants.  The  difference  we  noticed 
between  peasants  belonging  to  the  Crown  and 
those  of  the  nobilihj  has  been  abeady  mention- 
ed. The  croirn  peasants,  indeed,  it  is  reason- 
able to  suppose,  are  more  happy;  living  at 
their  ease,  pa\-ing  a  moderate  quit-rent,  and 
choosing  their  own  Siarosta.  They  are,  how- 
ever, more  exposed  to  vexation  and  oppres- 
sion from  the  petty  officers  of  the  crowTi. 

'  This  account  of  the  condition  of  the  pea- 
sants in  Russia  is  an  abrege  of  the  different 
statements  we  procured  in  Moscow,  and  chiefly 
from  Prince  Theodore  AtA-oiatori/z  Galitzin. 
The  levies  for  the  army  are  considered  by  the 
peasants  as  times  of  great  terror.  Baron  Bode 
told  me,  they  generally  keep  the  levy  as  secret 
as  possible,  till  they  have  fixed  on  cind  secured 
a  proper  number  of  men.  They  are  generally 
chained  till  they  are  sworn  in  :  the  fore  part  of 
the  head  is  then  shaved,  and  they  are  thus 
easily  distinguished  from  other  peasatits.  After 
this,  desertion  is  very  rare,  and  very  difficult. 
The  distress  of  one  of  their  popular  dramas, 
which  we  saw  acted  at  Tareslof,  in  the  private 
theatre  of  the  Governor  Prince  Ga/i7r»"  ' 
sisted  in  a  young  man  being  pressed  for  a 


THE  DON  COSSACKS. 


19 


soldier.  In  the  short  reign  of  Peter  II.,  who,  it 
is  well  known,  transferred  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment again  to  Moscow,  no  man  was  pressed  for 
a  soldier  ;  the  army  was  recruited  by  volun- 
teers ;  and  slaves  were  permitted  to  enter.' 

Heber  visited  the  country  of  the  Cossacks  of 
the  Don  ;  and  his  notes  concerning  their  man- 
ners, which  he  rated  far  indeed  above  those  of 
the  Russians,  afforded  better  information  than 
had  till  then  been  accessible  as  to  a  people 
destined  to  act  a  distinguished  part  in  the  de- 
fence of  the  North  against  Buonaparte  in  1812. 
Writing  at  Axay  on  the  Don,  he  says — 

'  There  is  here  a  very  decent  kabak,  with  a 
billiard-table,  and  a  room  adorned  with  many 
German  engravings,  and  one  English  print, 
that  of  The  Death  of  Chevalier  Bayard.  The 
Cossacks,  having  never  heard  of  the  Chevalier 
sans  reproche,  called  it  The  Death  of  Darius. 
On  my  asking  if  Bourbon  was  Alexandra  Ma- 
cedonslcy,  they  answered,  to  my  surprise,  that 
he  was  not  present  at  the  death  of  Darius,  and 
showed  themselves  well  skilled  in  his  histm^, 
which  one  would  hardly  e.xpect. 

*  Education  among  the  Cossacks  is  not  so 
low  as  is  generally  thought,  and  it  improves 


20 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


daily.  All  the  children  of  officers  are  sent  to 
the  academy  of  Tcherkask,  and  learn  French, 
German,  &c.  It  was  holiday-time  when  we 
were  there  ;  but  their  progress  was  well  spo- 
ken of. 

'  Tcherkask  stands  on  some  marshy  islands 
in  the  river.  The  houses  are  all  raised  on 
wooden  pillars,  and  connected  by  foot  bridges. 
The  foot-paths  run  like  galleries  before  the 
houses.  When  we  saw  it,  every  part  was 
flooded,  except  the  principal  street,  the  great 
church,  and  the  market-place.  The  antic 
wooden  cabins,  mixed  with  the  domes  of 
churches,  tops  of  trees,  and  Calmuck  tents, 
had  an  interesting  effect,  just  rising  from  the 
water.  The  sudak  still  continued  to  poison 
the  air  ;  but  the  houses,  notwithstanding  the 
people  are  all  fishers,  are  neat.  The  Cossacks 
are  much  cleaner  than  the  Russians.  There  is 
a  spacious  and  ancient  cathedral,  nearly  on  the 
same  plan  as  the  Casan  Church  in  Moscow. 
Detached  from  the  rest  of  the  building  is  a 
large  tower,  which,  at  a  distance,  gives  a  faint 
recollection  of  St.  Mary's  spire  at  Oxford. 
There  are  many  other  churches,  full  of  very 
costly  ornaments.    I  never  saw  so  many  pearls 


THE  DON  COSSACKS. 


21 


at  once,  as  on  the  head  of  a  Madonna  in  the 
cathedral.  These  treasures  are  the  spoils  of 
Turkey  and  Poland. 

'  The  manners  of  the  people  struck  us,  from 
their  superiority  to  the  Russians  in  honesty  and 
dignity.  A  lieutenant  at  Petersburg,  who  once 
begged  alms  from  us,  bowed  himself  to  the 
ground,  and  knocked  his  head  on  the  floor.  A 
lieutenant  here,  who  was  imprisoned,  and  also 
begged,  made  the  request  in  a  manly  and  dig- 
nified manner,  and  thanked  us  as  if  we  had 
been  his  comrades. 

'  Both  men  and  women  are  handsome,  and 
taller  than  the  Muscovites.  This  name  they 
hold  in  great  contempt,  as  we  had  several  op- 
portunities of  observing.  The  procurator,  the 
physician,  the  apothecary,  and  the  master  of 
the  academy,  being  distinguished  by  their 
dress  and  nation  from  the  Cossacks,  seemed  to 
have  formed  a  coterie  of  their  own,  and  to  dis- 
like, and  to  be  disliked  by,  the  whole  town. 
The  postmaster  said  they  were  much  improved 
since  he  came  there  ;  that  then  they  would  have 
pelted  any  stranger.  We  saw  nothing  of  this 
kind,  except  that,  when  we  first  landed,  mis- 
talcing  us  for  Russians,  some  boys  cried  out, 


22 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


"  Moscojfsky  Canaille  ."' — Canaille  has  become 
a  naturalized  word  in  Russia.' 

He  thus  sums  up  his  observations  on  the 
constitution  of  the  armies  of  the  Don  : — 

'  Their  government  differs,  in  many  respects, 
from  the  ancient  Malo-Russian,  and  has  lately 
suffered  repeated  encroachments.  Their  terri- 
tory, which  is  almost  entirely  pasture  land,  is 
divided  into  stanitzas,  or  cantons  ;  for  many 
stanitzas  now  contain  more  than  a  single  vil- 
lage. To  each  of  these,  a  certain  portion  of 
land  and  fishery  is  allotted  by  government,  and 
an  annual  allowance  of  corn  from  Voronetz, 
and  northwards,  according  to  the  returned 
number  of  Cossacks.  They  are  free  from  all 
taxes  ;  even  from  those  of  salt  and  distilleries. 
The  distribution  of  the  land  to  the  individuals 
in  each  stanitza  is  settled  by  the  inhabitants 
and  their  Ataman.  This  Ataman  was  chosen 
by  the  people,  and  was  both  civil  and  military 
commander  of  the  place.  Paul  had  laid  some 
restrictions  on  this  right,  which  I  could  not 
understand.  He  had  also  ennobled  the  chil- 
dren of  all  who  had  the  military  rank  of  colo- 
nel, which  was  complained  of,  as  introducing 
an  unconstitutional  aristocracy.    From  these 


THE  DON  COSSACKS. 


23 


Atamans,  an  appeal  lies  to  the  Clfancery  at 
Tcheikask.    They  used  to  elect  their  Ata- 

I  man  there,  and  to  appeal  to  him  only  ;  as- 
sembling occasionally,  as  a  check  on  his  con- 
duct ;  but  he  is  now  appointed  by  the  crown, 

j     and  greatly  diminished  in  power.    The  allot- 

I  ment  of  land  and  fishery  which  each  Cossack 
possesses  may  be  let  out  by  him  to  farm,  and 

*     often  is  so  ;  and  it  is  a  frequent  abuse  to  in- 

i  sert  the  names  of  children  in  the  return  of 
Cossacks,  to  entitle  them  to  their  seniority  in 
becoming  officers.    I  met  with  a  child  thus 

ii  favoured.    This  has  taken  place  since  the 

II  Cossacks,  when  called  out,  have  been  formed 
into  regular  regiments,  which  has  depressed 
entirely  the  power  of  the  village  Ataman,  by 

1  the  introduction  of  colonels,  captains,  &c. 
Formerly,  the  Ataman  himself  marched  at  the 
head  of  his  stanitza.  Now  he  merely  sends 
the  required  contingent,  which  is  put  under 
officers  named  by  the  crown. 

'  The  Cossack,  in  consequence  of  his  allow- 
ance, may  be  called  on  to  serve  for  any  term, 
not  exceeding  three  years,  in  any  part  of  the 
world,  mounted,  armed,  and  clothed  at  his  own 
expense,  and  making  good  any  deficiencies 


24 


BISHOP  HEBI%. 


which  may  occur.  Food,  pay,  and  camp  equi- 
page, are  furnished  by  government.  Those 
who  have  served  three  years  are  not  liable,  or 
at  least  not  usually  called  upon,  to  serve 
abroad,  except  on  particular  emergencies. 
They  serve,  however,  in  the  cordon  along  the 
Caucasus,  and  in  the  duties  of  the  post  and 
police.  After  twenty  years,  they  become  free 
from  all  service,  except  the  home  duties  of 
police,  and  assisting  in  the  passage  of  the  corn 
barks  over  the  shallows  in  the  Don.  After 
twenty-five  years'  service  they  are  free  en- 
tirely. 

'  The  Procurator  declared  the  whole  num- 
ber of  Cossacks,  liable  to  be  called  on  for  one  or 
more  of  these  services,  Eunounted  to  200,000. 
He  acknowledged  that,  as  they  would  allow  no 
examination  into  their  numbers,  he  spoke  only 
from  conjecture,  and  from  the  different  allow- 
ances of  corn,  &.C.  occasionally  made.  The 
whole  number  of  male  population  he  reckoned 
at  half  a  million.  The  situation  of  a  Cossack 
is  considered  as  comfortable  ;  and  their  obli- 
gations to  service  are  deemed  well  repaid  by 
their  privileges  and  their  freedom.  "  Free  as 
A  Cossack"  is  a  proverb  we  have  often  heard 


THE  COSSACKS. 


25 


in  Russia.  The  number  of  Cossack  guards, 
who  are  all  Donsky,  amounts  to  three  regi- 
ments, of  1000  each.  The  number  employed 
in  Persia  and  Caucasus  I  could  not  learn.  In 
the  year  1805,  a  corps  of  seventy-two  regi- 
ments, of 560  men  each,  marched  under  Platof, 
the  Ataman  of  Tcherkask  ;  but  received  coun- 
ter orders,  as  it  did  not  arrive  in  time  for  the 
])attle  of  Austerlitz.  At  Austerlitz,  only  six 
hundred  Cossacks  were  present.  The  pea- 
sants near  Austerlitz  spoke  of  them  as  objects 
of  considerable  apprehension  to  the  French 
cavalry  ;  particularly  the  cuirassiers,  whose 
horses  were  more  unwieldy.  These  Cos- 
sacks, Platof  said,  had  suffered  dreadfully,  as 
they  were  for  some  time  the  only  cavalry  with 
the  Russian  army,  and,  before  the  Emperor 
joined  Kotuzof,  had  lost  almost  all  their  horses 
with  fatigue.  During  the  quarrel  of  Paul 
with  England,  he  assembled  45,000  Cossacks, 
as  it  was  believed  at  Tcherkask,  to  march  to 
India.  I  saw  the  plan  was  not  at  all  unpopu- 
lar with  Platof  and  his  officers.  PlatoPs  pre- 
decessor was  the  last  Ataman  who  was  in 
l)ossession  of  all  his  ancient  privileges.  He 
liad  often,  by  his  own  authority,  bound  men 
3 


26 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


hand  and  foot,  and  thrown  them  into  the  Don. 
He  was  unexpectedly  seized  and  carried  off 
by  the  orders  of  the  Empress  (Catherine,) 
and  succeeded,  as  General  of  the  Armies  of 
the  Don,  by  Maffei  Ivanovitch  Platof,  a  fine 
civil  old  soldier,  with  the  great  cordon  of  St. 
Anne. 

Of  the  kindred  tribes  on  the  Dnieper  we 
have  what  follows: — 

'  These  men  originally  were  deserters  and 
vagabonds  from  all  nations,  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  marshy  islands  of  the  Dnieper. 
At  the  foundation  of  Cherson,  they  were  chas- 
ed from  their  homes,  and  took  shelter  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Danube,  still  preserving  their  cha- 
racter of  fishermen  and  pirates.  Potemkin 
offering  them  pay  and  lands,  they  returned  to 
the  side  of  Russia,  and  did  great  service  in  the 
second  Turkish  war.  They  received,  as  a 
reward,  the  country  newly  conquered  from  the 
Kuban  Tartars.  They  hold  their  lands  by  the 
same  tenure,  and  enjoy  nearly  the  same  privi- 
leges, as  the  Don  Cossacks.  They  are,  how- 
ever, much  poorer,  and  more  uncivilized,  and 
never  quit  their  country,  where  indeed  they 
have  sufficient  employment.    They  receive  no 


THE  DMEPER  COSSACKS. 


27 


pay,  except  an  allowance  of  rye;  and  dress 
themselves  at  their  own  expense,  and  in  what- 
ever colours  they  choose,  without  any  regard 
to  uniformity.  The  officers,  for  the  most  part, 
wear  red  boots,  which  is  their  only  distinction. 
They  deal  largely  in  cattle,  and  have  a  barter 
of  salt  for  corn  with  the  Circassians.  .  .  .  They 
are  generally  called  thieves.  We  found  them, 
however,  very  honest,  where  their  point  of 
honour  was  touched,  very  good  natured,  and, 
according  to  their  scanty  means,  hospitable. 

'  The  cattle  here  are  larger  and  finer  than 
any  where  in  Russia.  There  are  no  sheep, 
not  even  of  the  Asiatic  breed.  The  Cossack 
horses  are  what  would  be  called,  in  England, 
good  galloways.  Their  masters  vaunt  very 
much  their  speed  and  hardiness.  According 
to  them,  a  moderately  good  horse  will  go  sixty 
versts,  or  forty  miles,  at  full  speed,  without 
stopping.    They  are  seldom  handsome.' 

When  Mr.  Heber  was  in  this  country,  his 
friend  Mr.  Thornton,  the  companion  of  his 
travels,  lost  his  gun;  and  they  left  Ekaterine- 
dara,  supposing  it  to  be  stolen;  as  travellers 
in  Russia  are  constantly  liable  to  thefts  of 
every  description.    To  their  great  surprise, 


28 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


however,  when  they  arrived  at  Taman,  the 
gun  was  brought  to  them.  An  express  had 
been  sent  after  them,  who  had  travelled  the 
whole  distance  from  Ekaterinedara  to  Taman, 
to  restore  the  gun  to  its  owner;  and  the  per- 
son employed  to  convey  it  refused  to  accept 
any  reward  for  his  labour.  '  Such  facts  as 
these  (says  Dr.  Clarke)  require  no  comment. 
The  character  of  the  Cossacks,  and  their  su- 
periority to  the  Russians  in  every  qualification 
that  can  adorn  human  nature,  is  completely 
established.' 

Our  traveller  now  proceeded  to  examine  the 
Crimea — so  interesting  for  the  remains  of  an- 
tiquity and  the  reverses  of  fortune.  From 
this  part  of  his  journal  the  following  are  ex- 
tracts:— 

'  On  the  22d  of  April  we  found  we  had  ex- 
hausted all  the  curiosities  of  Taman,  and  de- 
termined to  proceed  directly  to  Kertch,  and 
wait  for  our  carriage  at  Kaffa.  We  were  in- 
duced to  take  this  step  by  understanding  that 
Venikale  offered  nothing  remarkable  either  in 
antiquities  or  situation,  and  by  our  desire  to 
give  as  much  time  as  possible  to  Kaffa.  The 
regular  ferry-boat  was  then  at  Venikale,  and 


THE  CRIMEA. 


29 


tlie  wind  directly  contrary.  For  this  boat  our 
carriage  was  obliged  to  wait:  wc  ourselves 
obtained  a  fishing-boat  from  the  point  nearest 
Kertch.  From  Phanagoria  to  this  point  is 
reckoned  twelve  versts:  it  is  a  long  narrow 
spit  of  sand,  evidently  of  recent  formation, 
and  marked  in  Guthrie's  map  as  an  island. 
Even  where  this  terminates,  is  a  range  of 
sand,  reaching  like  a  bar  across  almost  half 
the  Bosphorus,and  hardly  covered  with  water, 
which  bids  fair  in  time,  completely  to  block  up 
the  navigation.  An  immense  quantity  of  sea- 
fowl  are  seen  on  every  part  of  the  Straits. 
The  prospect  is  perfectly  naked  and  desert; 
on  one  side  the  bare  downs  and  long  sand 
Kossas  of  Taman,  and  on  the  other  a  bleak 
and  rocky  coast,  without  verdure  or  inhabit- 
ants; and  the  miserable  fishermen,  who  rowed 
us  over,  were  a  very  fit  group  for  such  a  scene. 
From  the  Kossa,  where  we  embarked,  to 
Kertch,  is  reckoned  twelve  versts.  Immedi- 
ately opposite  is  a  round  shallow  bay,  where 
was  a  hut  in-  which  the  fishermen  occasionally 
slept.  Behind  the  northern  point  of  this  bay 
opens  a  much  larger;  where  a  few  miserable 
houses,  a  small  church,  and  a  jetty  of  piles, 
3* 


30 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


point  out  Kertch.  The  most  conspicuous  ob- 
ject is  a  conical  green  hill,  either  entirely  or 
in  part  artificial,  on  the  top  of  which  is  a  seat 
and  a  flag-staff.  The  Russian  officer,  who 
took  us  there,  fancied  it  was  erected  in  honour 
of  Mithradates,  or  some  of  his  family.  The 
shore  is  very  shelving  and  shallow;  and  we 
had  the  greatest  difficulty  to  get  our  boat 
within  a  reasonable  distance  of  the  land.  The 
commandant  of  Kertch,  a  Georgian  by  birth, 
told  us  that  many  plans  had  been  given  for  a 
harbour  and  quarantine  at  this  place;  but  the 
present  scheme  of  making  KafTathe  emporium 
would  probably  prevent  them.  Immediately 
on  landing,  we  were  accosted  by  a  Russian 
priest  with  the  salutation  Xftaroi  unrm.  We 
had  before  observed,  that  the  Cossacks  used 
at  this  season  to  salute  foreigners  in  Greek. 
The  town  of  Kertch  is  very  small  and  misera- 
ble; it  is  chiefly  inhabited  by  Jews.  There 
is  one  tolerable  watchmaker,  and  two  shops  in 
the  Bazar,  where  we  saw  some  English  cotton 
stuffs.  The  country  around  is  all  bare  of 
trees,  and  their  fire-wood  is  brought  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Eski-Krim,  a  distance  of 
perhaps  120  versts.    There  is  a  spacious  for- 


THE  CRI3IEA. 


31 


tress,  and  a  garrison  of  a  lieutenant-colonel, 
a  major,  and  four  companies  of  light-infantry. 
The  men  were  distinguished  by  not  wearing 
swords,  which  most  Russian  soldiers  do:  the 
non-commissioned  officers  carried  rifles.  I 
had  made  some  drawings  and  memoranda  o) 
the  antiquities,  which  I  have  lost,  but  which 
diflJered  in  no  material  point  from  the  account 
published  by  Pallas.  The  most  interesting  are 
in  the  wall  of  the  church.  It  is  perhaps  worth 
mentioning,  as  illustrative  of  national  charac- 
ter, that  the  Russian  major,  who  agreed  to 
furnish  us  with  horses,  and  an  open  kibitka  to 
KafTa,  insisted  on  such  usurious  terms  that  the 
other  officers  cried  out  shame,  and  that  the 
same  man  afterwards  squeezed  some  further 
presents  out  of  Thornton's  servant.  A  Cos- 
sack would  have  disdained  such  conduct. 

'  In  the  first  stage  towards  Sudak,  a  build- 
ing presents  itself  on  the  left  hand,  in  a  beau- 
tiful situation  among  woods,  on  the  side  of  a 
steep  hill,  which  our  Tahtar  guide  said  had 
been  an  Armenian  convent.  We  conversed 
with  the  Tahtars  by  an  interpreter  whom  we 
hired  at  Kaffa:  he  was  a  Polish  Jew,  but  had 
resided  several  years  at  Constantinople.  No- 


32 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


thing  could  be  move  interesting,  and  to  us 
novel,  than  the  prospect,  and  the  appearance 
of  every  one  we  met.  A  mirza,  or  noble,  ope 
of  the  few  who  still  remain  in  the  country, 
overtook  us;  and  1  was  delighted  at  being  ad- 
dressed for  the  first  time  by  the  Oriental  sa- 
1am,  by  which  we  were  afterwards  saluted  by  all 
the  passengers.  In  this  part  of  the  country  I 
only  saw  one  camel,  a  she  one,  and  kept  for 
her  milk:  the  roads  are  too  steep  and  rocky 
for  them.  The  common  cart  had  two  wheels, 
and  was  drawn  by  two  oxen  abreast,  like  a 
curricle:  it  was  light,  but  spacious.  This  is 
only  seen  as  far  as  Sudak:  afterwards,  the  hills 
are  too  steep  for  any  wheel  carriage.  We 
passed  a  day  with  Dr.  Pallas  at  Sudak,  who 
asked  much  about  Messrs.  Clarke  and  Cripps. 
The  beauty  of  this  celebrated  valley  rather 
disappointed  us,  except  as  far  as  the  vineyards 
are  concerned,  which  are  more  extensive  and 
finer  than  any  we  saw  besides.  Dr.  Pallas 
said,  that  the  wine  made  by  the  Tahtars  was 
spoiled  by  the  over  irrigation  of  their  vine- 
yards, which  increased  the  size  of  the  grapes, 
but  injured  their  flavour.  The  wine  we  tasted 
was  all  poor  and  hungry.    Sudak,  or,  as  it  was 


THE  CRIMEA. 


33 


explained  to  me,  The  Hill  of  the  Fountain,  is  a 
small  village,  peopled  by  a  few  families  of 
Greeks,  with  a  very  small  and  insecure  har- 
bour. The  castle,  which  is  ruinous,  stands 
on  a  high  insulated  rock  on  the  east  of  the 
town;  and  at  the  foot  is  a  beautiful  spring, 
preserved  in  a  large  cistern,  with  a  metal  cup 
chained  to  it.  I  suppose  this  is  the  harbour 
mentioned  by  Arrian  as  possessed  by  Scythian 
pirates,  between  Theodosia  and  Lampat. 
There  is  a  small  but  handsome  mosque  still 
entire  in  the  castle.  I  saw  nothing  which 
could  be  referred  to  a  higher  antiquity  than 
the  Genoese,  nor  any  thing  which  I  could  rely 
on  as  even  so  old  as  their  erections.  It  is  only 
after  Sudak  that  the  real  mountaineer  features 
and  habits  appear  to  begin.  In  the  Vale  of 
Oluz,  or  Sudak,  very  few  of  the  cottages  are 
flat-rooffed,  and  all  the  better  sort  of  farm 
houses  are  tiled. 

'  At  Kaya,  the  next  stage,  and  from  thence 
to  Baydar,  the  buildings  have  flat  roofs,  except 
the  mosques,  which  are  tiled;  generally  with 
gable-ends,  and  surrounded  by  a  wooden  por- 
tico.   This  distinction  between  the  roofs  of 


34 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


private  and  public  buildings  is  mentioned  by 
Aristophanes,  as  existing  in  Athens: 

tZi  yecf  vfiu>  c'ixi'»i  if'i-^efctv  IIFOS  AETON. 

Opw«.  1109-10. 
The  houses  are  generally  piled  up  one  above 
another,  half  under  ground,  along  the  sides  of 
hills;  they  are  composed  of  clay,  and  the  vil- 
lages resemble  rabbit-warrens.  Irrigation  is 
practised  universally,  and  with  apparent  skill, 
where  the  vineyards  are  planted.  Very  little 
corn  is  grown;  but  the  valleys  are  literally 
woods  of  fruit-trees.  Water  is  abundant;  and, 
near  many  of  the  best  wells,  seats  of  earth  are 
made,  and  bowls  left  for  way-faring  men  to 
drink.  There  are  wolves  and  foxes,  and,  of 
course,  the  other  game  is  not  very  plentiful; 
but  there  are  hares,  and  a  few  partridges.  Be- 
tween Lambat  and  Aliuschta  is  the  way  to 
ascend  Chatyr  Dag,  which  we  missed  seeing, 
by  the  blunder  of  our  Jewish  interpreter. 

'  We  left  Kertch  on  the  twenty-third.  From 
thence  the  road  winds  among  swampy  uncul- 
tivated savannahs,  having  generally  a  range  of 
low  hills  to  the  south,  and  the  Sea  of  Asoph  at 
some  distance  to  the  north.    These  plains  are 


KAFFA. 


35 


covered  with  immense  multitudes  of  bustards, 
cranes,  and  storks.  I  saw  no  pelicans  after 
landing  in  Europe.  I  never  saw  an  English 
bustard;  but  those  of  the  Crimea  appeared  to 
be  a  stouter  bird  than  what  is  generally  repre- 
sented in  prints.  There  are  many  ruins  in  this 
part  of  the  country,  and  other  vestiges  of  po- 
pulation. We  passed  two  or  three  small,  but 
solid  and  well-built  bridges  over  rivulets,  which 
appeared  to  be  of  Mohammedan  workmanship; 
and  there  were  many  tombs  distinguished  by 
the  turban.  The  number  of  barrows  near 
Kertch  is  surprising.  We  passed  two  villages 
still  standing,  and  recognised  at  once  the  gro- 
tesque dresses  of  the  Nogay  herdsmen  repre- 
sented by  Pallas.  At  night  we  reached  another 
village  some  time  after  dark,  and,  after  a  fu- 
ilous  battle  with  the  dogs,  obtained  a  lodging. 
I  have  forgotten  its  name.  The  next  day  we 
found  several  patches  of  cultivation,  and  the 
country  improving,  though  still  full  of  ruins. 
'  On  our  right  hand  lay  the  Sea  of  Asoph;  and 
on  our  left  the  Black  Sea  was  now  visible.  A 
ruinous  mosque  was  before  us.  We  found,  on 
inquiry,  that  our  driver  had  mistaken  his  way; 
that  we  had  passed  the  turn  to  Kaffa,  and  were 


36 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


in  the  road  to  Karasubazar.  Kaffa  now  lay 
on  our  left  hand;  and  presents  a  most  dismal 
prospect  as  it  is  approached  on  the  side.  There 
is  a  striking  ruin  on  the  north-east  point  of  the 
bay,  which  was  formerly  a  mint;  and  the  walls 
and  towers,  though  dismantled,  are  very  fine. 
The  tower  rises  like  a  theatre  from  the  water's 
edge,  and  is  of  considerable  extent,  but  almost 
entirely  ruinous.  On  the  land  side  it  is  de- 
fended by  a  high  wall,  with  loop-holes  and  bat- 
tlements: the  loop-holes  communicate  with  a 
sort  of  gallery,  and  are  contrived  in  the  thick- 
ness of  the  wall,  with  large  internal  arches, 
which  give  it  the  appearance  of  an  aqueduct. 
These  arches  support  the  upper  walk  and  pa- 
rapet. The  towers  are  semicircular.  On  one 
of  them,  in  which  is  a  gateway,  are  many 
shields  with  armorial  bearings,  not  much  de- 
faced, which  ascertain  the  Genoese  to  have 
been  its  founders.  There  are  some  noble  Mo- 
hammedan baths  entire,  but  now  converted  into 
warehouses;  many  ruined  mosques;  and  one 
which  is  still  in  good  order,  though  little  used. 
There  are  also  the  remains  of  several  buildings, 
which,  by  their  form,  and  position  east  and 
west,  appear  to  have  been  churches.  Turkish 


KAFFA. 


37 


and  Armenian  inscriptions  abound:  but  I  could 
find,  in  several  days'  search,  no  vestige  which 
I  could  rely  on  as  having  belonged  to  the  an- 
cient Theodosia.  The  north-west  quarter  of 
the  town  is  peopled  by  Karaite  Jews,  and  the 
narrow  bazar  nearest  the  water  swarms  with 
those  of  Europe.  These  are  the  two  most 
populous  parts  of  the  town.  There  are  some 
Armenians,  but  not  exceeding  thirty  families, 
and  hardly  any  Tahtars.  The  remainder  of 
the  population  consists  of  the  garrison,  five  or 
six  Italian  and  German  merchants  (no  French 
when  we  were  there,)  and  some  miserable 
French  and  Suabian  emigrants.  General  Fan- 
shaw  has  constructed  a  very  good  quay;  and, 
by  pulling  down  some  ruinous  buildings  and 
a  part  of  the  wall,  has  made  a  good  cut  from 
the  north,  which  he  has  planted  with  trees. 
They  were  building  a  very  large  and  conve- 
nient place  of  quarantine.  T  could  find  no 
aqueduct;  nor  did  there  appear  any  need  of 
one,  as  there  are  many  beautiful  springs  burst- 
ing out  of  different  parts  of  the  higher  town, 
which,  excepting  the  north-east  quarter,  where 
the  Karaites  live,  is  entirely  waste  and  ruinous. 
The  springs  have  all  been  carefully  preserve 
4 


38 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


in.  cisterns,  some  of  them  ornamented  and 
arched  over,  with  Turkish  inscriptions:  and 
one  of  them  in  particular,  which  is  near  the 
south-west  angle  of  the  walls,  is  a  delightful 
bath,  though  small,  being  surrounded  by  pic- 
turesque ruins,  and  overhung  with  ivy  and 
brushwood.  The  ruins  of  KafFa  are  mostly  of 
free-stone:  the  greater  part  of  the  houses  were, 
I  understood,  of  mud  and  ill-baked  bricks;  but 
of  these  hardly  any  traces  are  left.  None  of 
those  still  standing  have  flat  roofs,  but  are  all 
tiled,  with  very  projecting  eaves,  and  in  the  ' 
same  style  of  architecture  as  the  palace  at 
Batchiserai.  The  best  of  these  adjoin  to  the 
quay,  and  are  inhabited  by  the  merchants. 
There  are  a  few  buildings  lately  erected;  one 
a  tavern,  by  a  French  emigrant;  and  another 
a  house  intended  for  the  governor,  Fanshaw. 
All  these  are  of  slight  timber  frames,  covered 
with  plaister. 

*  Kaffa  was  called  by  the  Tahtars,  in  its  bet- 
ter days,  Kutchuk  Stamboul  (Little  Constan- 
tinople.) I  often  asked  different  persons  what 
its  former  population  was;  particularly  an  old 
Italian,  who  had  been  interpreter  to  the  Khans; 
but  the  answers  I  obtained  were  not  such  as  I 


KAFPA. 


39 


could  credit.  Yet  he  and  the  Tahtar  peasants 
were  in  the  same  story,  lhat  it  had  formerly 
consisted  of  sixteen  thousand  houses.  All  the 
Tahtars  attributed  its  desolation  to  the  calami- 
ties brought  on  it  by  the  Russian  garrison,  who 
tore  off  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  where  they 
were  quartered,  for  fire-wood.  I  was  told  by  a 
Suabian  settler,  that  wood  was  chiefly  brought 
from  Old  Krim,  and  was  very  dear:  the  win- 
ters he  complained  of,  as  very  cold.  Corn  is 
very  dear,  and  comes  chiefly  from  the  Don. 
Animal  food  is  not  so  plentiful  as  I  should 
have  supposed.  A  young  man,  who  was  em- 
ployed to  buy  stores  for  Mr.  Eaton  the  con- 
tractor, stated  the  price  of  beef,  in  the  market 
of  Kaffa,  to  be  ten  or  fifteen  copecks  the  pound, 
or  sometimes  more,  and  the  supply  irregular. 
About  three  miles  from  Kaffa  is  a  small  village 
of  German  colonists,  who  were  very  poor  and 
desponding:  the  number  might  be  twelve  fami- 
lies, who  were  then  on  their  farms,  the  rest 
having  gone  into  service,  or  to  sea.  General 
Fanshaw,  to  whom  we  had  a  letter,  was  at  Pe- 
tersburg; so  that  I  am  unable  to  give  so  good 
an  account  of  Kaffa  as  if  I  had  the  means  of 
deriving  information  from  him.     His  object 


40 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


was  to  establish  a  Bank  at  Kaffa,  and  finally 
to  arrange  the  intercourse  with  the  Don,  by 
way  of  Arabat.  The  merchants  of  Kaffa  were, 
as  usual,  excessively  sanguine,  and  confident 
of  the  success  of  their  scheme;  and  we  heard  a 
direct  contrary  story  to  the  one  we  were  taught 
at  Taganrog.  We  could  not  learn  whether 
Arabat  had  a  safe  harbour:  the  road  from 
KafTa  thither  is  level,  and,  if  necessary,  a  rail- 
road might  be  put  up  at  no  great  expense,  as 
it  would  come  by  water  from  Lugan.  The  bay 
off  Kafl'a  is  rather  exposed  to  the  south-east, 
but  we  were  assured  they  had  very  seldom 
high  winds  from  that  quarter,  and  that  acci- 
dents had  been  never  known  to  happen.  A 
small  vessel,  of  the  kind  which  Russia  fitted 
out  in  numbers  during  the  ^Turkish  war,  with 
one  mast  and  a  vast  lateen  sail,  was  lying  in 
the  harbor,  to  take  a  Scotchman,  named  Mac- 
master,  to  Immeretta,  where,  and  at  Trebizond, 
he  was  to  act  as  a  sort  of  consul  to  an  associa- 
tion which  had  just  opened  a  trade  there.  At 
Kaffa  we  obtained  an  order  from  the  govern- 
ment for  horses  from  the  Tahtar  villages,  at  the 
rate  of  two  copecks  a  verst  per  horse.  The 
order  was  in  Turkish:  the  date  was  explained 


BATCHISKRAI. 


41 


to  US,  "  From  our  healthy  city  of  KafTa;"  which 
I  conclude  was  its  ancient  distinction.  The 
elder,  or  constable,  of  each  village  is  named 
"  Ombaska;"  but  I  write  the  Tahtar  words  from 
ear  only.  The  road  is  not  interesting  till  after 
you  have  past  Old  Krim;  though  there  is  a 
gradual  improvement  in  the  cultivation.  Old 
Krim,  we  were  told,  is  so  called,  because  the 
Tahtars  believe  it  to  have  been  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  Peninsula.  It  is  now  a  village 
of  filly  houses  at  most,  inhabited  entirely  by 
Armenians;  but  the  Mohammedan  ruins  are 
extensive :  there  are  three  mosques,  and  what 
appears  to  have  been  a  bath.  The  neighbour- 
ing peasants  are  all  Tahtars.' 

'  Batchiserai  is  entirely  inhabited  by  Tah- 
tars, Jews,  and  Armenians,  and  is  the  most 
populous  place  we  saw  in  the  Crimea.  It  has 
several  mosques,  besides  a  very  fine  one  in  the 
seraglio,  with  two  minarets,  the  mark  of  roy- 
alty- There  are  some  decent  sutlers'  shops, 
and  some  manufactories  of  felt  carpets,  and 
one  of  red  and  yellow  leather.  The  houses 
are  almost  universally  of  wood  and  ill-baked 
bricks,  Avith  wooden  piazzas,  and  shelving 
roofs  of  red  tile.  There  is  a  new  church, 
'  4* 


4St 


BISHOP  HLIiER. 


dedicated  to  St.  George  ;  but  the  most  striking 
feature  is  the  palace,  which  though  neither 
large  nor  regular,  yet,  by  the  picturesque  style 
of  its  architecture,  its  carving  and  gihling,  its 
Arabic  and  Turkish  inscriptions,  and  the  foun- 
tains of  beautiful  water  in  every  court,  inte- 
rested me  more  than  I  can  express.  The 
apartments,  except  the  Hall  of  Justice,  are 
low  and  irregular.  In  one  are  a  number  of 
bad  paintings,  representing  different  views  of 
Constantinople  ;  and,  to  my  surprise,  birds 
were  pictured  flying,  in  violation  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan prohibition  to  paint  any  animal.  It 
is  kept  in  tolerable  repair  ;  and  the  divans  in 
the  best  rooms  are  still  furnished  with  cush- 
ions. One  ajiartment,  Avhich  was  occupied  by 
the  Empress  Catherine,  is  fitted  up  in  a  paltry 
ball-room  manner,  with  chandeliers,  &c.  and 
forms  an  exception  to  the  general  style.  Tlie 
Harem  is  a  mean  building,  separated  from  the 
other  apartments  by  a  small  walled  garden, 
and  containing  a  kitchen,  with  six  or  eight 
small  and  mean  bed-rooms,  each  of  which  (as 
we  were  told  by  our  guide,  who  was  a  Jew, 
and  remembered  it  in  the  time  of  the  Khans) 
was  usually  occupied  by  two  ladies.    In  the 


THE  CRIMEA. 


43 


garden  is  a  large  and  delightful  kiosk,  sur- 
rounded by  lattice-work,  with  a  divan  round 
the  inside,  the  centre  paved  with  marble,  and 
furnished  with  a  fountain.  The  word  Serai  or 
Seraglio,  which  is  given  to  this  range  of  build- 
ings, seems,  in  the  Tahtar  and  Turkish  lan- 
guage, to  answer  to  all  the  significations  of  our 
English  word  Court  ;  being  applied  indiffe- 
rently to  the  yard  of  an  inn  or  the  inclosure  of 
a  palace.' 

'  The  valley  of  Baidar  belongs  to  Admiral 
Mardvinof ;  but  his  possession  was  contested 
when  we  were  there,  and  the  rents  were  paid 
to  government,  in  deposit.  Many  of  the  Rus- 
sian ])roprietors  of  the  Crimea  were  in  the 
same  condition,  owing  to  the  ibllowing  cir- 
cumstance, as  they  were  represented  to  me  by 
a  young  man,  named  the  Count  de  Rochefort, 
who  was  nephew  to  the  Duke  of  Richelieu. 
Under  the  terrors  of  conquest,  the  Tahtar 
proprietors  made  little  opposition  to  the  grants 
vvhich  were  made  of  their  lands  ;  but  now  that 
they  are  again  in  some  measure  restored  to 
their  rights,  such  as  did  not  come  properly 
under  the  description  of  emigrants  have  com- 
menced processes  to  obtain  a  reversion  of  their 


44 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


forfeitures,  which  was  a  very  unexpected  blow 
to  their  masters.  The  Russians,  since  the 
conquest,  have  established  their  abominable 
code  of  slavery;  but  not  on  so  rigid  a  footing 
as  in  their  own  country.  Two  days  a  week, 
we  understood  from  Pallas,  is  all  the  work  a 
Tahtar  is  obliged  to  do  gratis  for  his  lord  ; 
and  the  Russians  complain  heavily  of  their 
idleness.  The  Mountaineers  are  almost  all 
either  entirely  freeholders,  or  on  the  footing 
of  peasants  of  the  crown.  The  number  of 
Russian  residents  in  the  Crimea  is  reduced 
greatly,  pome  have  taken  alarm  at  the  tenure 
of  their  lands  ;  others  have  sustained  great 
losses  by  their  slaves  running  away,  some  of 
whom  are  received  and  concealed  by  the 
Kuban  Cossacks  ;  which  however  is  now  pre- 
vented by  the  Duke  of  Richelieu's  govern- 
ment, which  includes  the  whole  country  up  to 
Caucasus  and  the  Caspian. 

'  The  forests  in  this  tract  are  not  of  a  very 
lofty  growth  :  firs,  however,  and  some  oaks 
are  found,  and  magnificent  walnut-trees.  The 
Tahtars  in  the  spring,  when  the  sap  is  rising, 
pierce  the  walnut  trees,  and  put  in  a  spigot  for 
some  time.    When  this  is  withdrawn,  a  clear 


THE  CRIMEA. 


45 


sweet  liquor  flows  out,  which,  when  coagula- 
ted, they  use  as  sugar.  In  different  places 
we  saw  a  few  cypress-trees,  growing  in  tho 
burial-grounds  :  they  were  pointed  out  to  us 
as  rarities,  and  brought  from  Stamboul.  On 
the  plains  above  the  sea-coast  are  some  fine 
olive-trees.  Lombardy-poplars  abound  eve- 
rywhere, and  are  very  beautiful. 

*  At  Koslof,  or  Eupatoria,  I  remember  no- 
thing interesting:  but  in  the  desert  near  it,  wo 
saw  some  parties  of  the  IVogay  Tahtars,  and 
had  an  opportunity  of  examining  their  kibitkas, 
which  are  shaped  something  like  a  bee-hive, 
consisting  of  a  frame  of  wood  covered  with  felt, 
and  placed  upon  wheels.  They  are  smaller 
and  more  clumsy  than  the  tents  of  the  Kal- 
mucks, and  do  not,  like  them,  take  to  pieces. 
In  the  Crimea,  they  are  more  used  for  the  oc- 
casional habitation  of  the  shepherd,  than  for 
regular  dwellings.  We  saw  a  great  many 
buffaloes  and  camels  :  several  of  the  latter  we 
met  drawing  in  the  two-wheeled  carts  describ- 
ed before,  a  service  for  which  I  should  have 
thought  them  not  so  well  adapted  as  for  bear- 
ing burthens  ;  and  although  "  a  chariot  of  ca- 
wie/«"  is  mentioned  by  Isaiah,  I  do  not  remem- 


46 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


ber  having  heard  of  such  a  practice  elsewhere. 
The  plain  of  Koslof  is  hardly  elevated  above 
the  sea,  and  fresh  water  is  very  scarce  and 
bad.' 

Crossing  the  Isthmus  of  Perekop,  Mr.  He- 
ber  thus  records  his  general  views  as  to  the 
Tahtar  (or  Tartar)  population  of  the  Crimea, 
and  the  neighbouring  districts  : — 

'  At  Perekop  are  only  one  or  two  houses, 
inhabited  by  the  postmaster  and  custom-house 
officers  ;  and  a  little  barrack.  The  famous 
wall  is  of  earth,  very  lofty,  with  an  immense 
ditch.  It  stretches  in  a  straight  line  from  sea 
to  sea,  without  any  remains  of  bastions  or 
flanking  towers,  that  I  could  discover.  The 
Golden  Gale  is  narrow,  and  too  low  for  an 
English  wagon.  Golden,  among  the  Tah- 
tars,  seems  synonymous  with  Royal;  and  thus 
we  hear  of  the  Golden  horde,  the  GoZden  tent, 
&.C.  Colonel  Symes  mentions  the  same  man- 
ner of  expression  in  Ava  ;  so  that  I  suppose  it 
is  common  all  over  the  East.  There  is  only 
one  well  at  Perekop,  the  water  of  which  is 
brackish  and  muddy.  A  string  of  near  two 
hundred  kibitkas  were  passing,  laden  with 
salt,  and  drawn  by  oxen  :  they  were  driven  by 


PEREKOP. 


47 


Malo-Russians,  who  had  brought  corn  into  the 
Crimea,  and  were  returning  with  their  present 
cargo.  White  or  clarified  salt  is  unknown  in 
the  south  of  Russia  ;  it  appears,  even  on  the 
best  tables,  with  the  greater  part  of  its  impu- 
rities adhering,  and  consequently  quite  brown. 
Kibitkas,  laden  with  this  commodity,  form  a 
kind  of  caravan.  They  seldom  go  out  of  their 
way  for  a  town  or  village,  but  perform  long 
journeys  ;  the  drivers  only  sheltered  at  night 
on  the  lee-side  of  their  carriages,  and  stretch- 
ed on  the  grass.  During  the  independence  of 
the  Crimea,  (an  old  officer  told  me,)  these 
people  were  always  armed,  and  travelled  with- 
out fear  of  the  Tahtars,  drawing  up  their  wa- 
gons every  night  in  a  circle,  and  keeping 
regular  sentries.  We  here,  with  great  regret, 
quitted  the  Crimea  and  its  pleasing  inhabit- 
ants :  it  was  really  like  being  turned  out  of 
Paradise,  when  we  abandoned  those  beautiful 
mountains,  and  again  found  ourselves  in  the 
vast  green  desert,  which  had  before  tired  us 
so  thoroughly ;  where  we  changed  olives  and 
cypresses,  clear  water  and  fresh  milk,  for 
reeds,  long  grass,  and  the  drainings  of  marshes, 
only  made  not  poisonous  by  being  mixed  with 


48 


,   BISHOP  HEBER. 


brandy  :  and  when,  instead  of  a  clean  carpet 
at  night,  and  a  supper  of  eggs,  butter,  honey, 
and  sweetmeats,  we  returned  to  the  seat  of 
our  carriage,  and  the  remainder  of  our  old 
cheese. 

'  Pallas  has  properly  distinguished  the  two 
distinct  races  of  Tahtars,  the  Nogays  and  the 
Mountaineers.  These  last,  however,  appear- 
ed to  me  to  resemble  in  their  persons  the  Turks 
and  the  Tahtars  of  Kostroma  and  Yaroslaf. — 
They  are  fair  and  handsome  people,  like  the 
Tahtars  in  the  north  of  Russia,  given  to  agri- 
culture and  commerce,  and  here,  as  well  as 
there,  decidedly  different  from  the  Nogays,  or 
other  Mongul  tribes.  The  Nogays,  however, 
in  the  Crimea,  appear  to  have  greatly  improved 
their  breed  by  intermarriages  with  the  original 
inhabitants,  being  much  handsomer  and  taller 
than  those  to  the  north  of  the  Golden  Gate. 
The  Mountaineers  have  large  bushy  beards 
when  old;  the  Tahtars  of  the  Plain  seldom 
possess  more  than  a  few  thin  hairs.  The 
Mountaineers  are  clumsy  horsemen,  in  which 
they  resemble  the  northern  Tahtars.  Their 
neighbours  ride  very  boldly,,  and  well.  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  two  Nogay  shepherd 


THE  TAHTARS. 


49 


boys,  who  were  galloping  their  horses  near 
Koslof,  and  who  showed  an  agility  and  dex- 
terity which  were  really  surprising.  While  the 
horse  was  in  full  speed,  they  sprang  from  their 
seats,  stood  upright  on  the  saddle,  leaped  on 
the  ground,  and  again  into  the  saddle  ;  and 
threw  their  whips  to  some  distance,  and  caught 
them  up  from  the  ground.  What  was  more 
remarkable,  we  ascertained  that  they  were 
merely  shepherds,  and  that  these  accomplish- 
ments were  not  e.\traordinary.  Both  Moun- 
taineers and  shepherds  are  amiable,  gentle, 
and  hospitable,  except  where  they  have  been 
soured  by  their  Russian  masters.  We  never 
approached  a  village  at  night-fall,  where  we 
were  not  requested  to  lodge  ;  or  in  the  day- 
time, without  being  invited  to  eat  and  drink  : 
and,  while  they  were  thus  attentive,  they  uni- 
formly seemed  careless  about  payment,  even 
for  the  horses  they  furnished  ;  never  counting 
the  money,  and  often  offering  to  go  away  with- 
out it.  They  are  steady  in  refusing  Russian 
money;  and  it  is  necessary  to  procure  a  suffi- 
cient stock  of  usluks,  paras,  and  sequins.  This 
is  not  their  only  way  of  showing  their  dislike 
to  their  new  masters  :  at  one  village  we  were 
5 


50 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


surprised  at  our  scanty  fare,  and  the  reluc- 
tance with  which  every  thing  was  furnished, 
till  we  learnt  that  they  had  mistaken  us  for 
Russian  officers.  On  finding  that  we  were 
foreigners,  the  eggs,  melted  butter,  nardek, 
and  bekmess,  came  in  profusion.  General 
Bardakoft'  told  us  they  were  fond  of  talking 
politics  :  when  we  addressed  them  on  this 
subject,  they  were  reserved,  and  affected  an 
ignorance  greater  than  I  thought  likely  or  na- 
tural. Pallas  complained  of  them  as  disaffect- 
ed, and  spoke  much  of  their  idleness.  Yet 
their  vineyards  are  very  neatly  kept,  and  care- 
fully watered  ;  and,  what  is  hardly  a  sign  of 
indolence,  their  houses,  clothes,  and  persons, 
are  uniformly  clean.  But  his  account  seemed 
to  me  by  no  means  sufficiently  favourable. 
They  are,  I  apprehend,  a  healthy  race  ;  but 
we  met  one  instance  where  a  slight  Avound 
had,  by  neglect,  become  very  painful  and  dan- 
gerous. On  asking  what  remedies  they  had 
for  diseases,  they  returned  a  remarkable  an- 
swer :  "  We  lay  down  the  sick  man  on  a  bed  ; 
and,  if  it  please  God,  he  recovers.  Allah 
Kerim  !"  Their  women  are  concealed,  even 
more  (the  Duke  of  Richelieu  said)  than  the 


CHERSO.N. 


61 


wives  of  Turkish  peasants  ;  and  are  greatly 
agitated  and  distressed  if  seen,  for  a  moment, 
without  a  veil.  Like  the  men,  they  have  very 
fair  and  clear  complexions,  with  dark  eyes  and 
hair,  and  aquiline  noses.  Among  the  men 
were  some  figures  which  might  have  served 
for  models  of  a  Hercules  ;  and  the  Moun- 
taineers have  a  very  strong  and  nimble  step  in 
walking.  An  Imaum,  who  wears  a  green  tur- 
ban, and  who  is  also  generally  the  school- 
master, is  in  every  village.  Not  many,  how- 
ever, of  the  peasants  could  read  or  write;  and 
they  seemed  to  pay  but  little  attention  to  the 
regular  hours  of  prayer.' 

At  Cherson  he  visits  the  tomb  of  the  Bene- 
volent Howard. — '  Cherson,'  says  he,  '  is  gra- 
dually sinking  into  decay,  from  the  unhealthi- 
ness  of  its  situation,  and  still  more  from  the 
preference  given  to  Odessa.  Yet  timber, 
corn,  hemp,  and  other  articles  of  exportation, 
are  so  much  cheaper  and  more  plentiful  here, 
that  many  foreign  vessels  still  prefer  this  port, 
though  they  are  obliged  by  government  first 
to  perform  quarantine,  and  unload  their  car- 
goes at  Odessa.  Corn  is  cheap  and  plentiful, 
but  timber  much  dearer  than  in  the  north,  aa 


S2 


BISHOP  HEBER, 


the  cataracts  of  the  Dnieper  generally  impede 
its  being  floated  down.  There  is  a  noble  for- 
est which  we  saw  in  Podolia,  not  far  from  the 
Bog,  a  beautful  river,  imenciimbered  by  cata- 
racts; but  as  some  land-carricige  would  be 
necessary,  it  is  as  yet  almost  "  intada  securi.^^ 
The  arsenal  at  Cherson  is  extensive  and  in- 
teresting: it  contains  a  monument  to  Potem- 
kin,  its  founder.  Two  frigates  and  a  seventy- 
four  were  building;  on  account  of  the  bar, 
they  are  floated  down  to  the  Liman  on  camels 
as  at  Petersburg.  jVothing  can  be  more 
dreary  than  the  prospect  of  the  river,  which 
forms  many  streams,  flowing  through  marshy 
islands,  where  the  masts  of  vessels  are  seen 
rising  from  amid  brush-wood  and  tall  reeds. 
In  these  islands  are  many  wild  boars,  which 
are  often  seen  swimming  from  one  to  the  other. 
No  foreign  merchants  of  any  consequence 
remain  here :  those  who  transact  business  at 
this  court,  do  it  by  clerks  and  supercargoes. 
My  information  respecting  Cherson  was 
chiefly  from  a  Scotchman  named  Geddes. 
The  Tomb  of  Howard  is  in  the  desert,  about 
a  mile  from  the  town:  it  was  built  by  Admiral 
Mordvinof,  and  is  a  small  brick  pyramid, 


ODESSA. 


53 


white-washed,  but  without  any  inscription. 
He  himself  fixed  on  the  spot  of  his  interment. 
He  had  built  a  small  hut  on  this  part  of  the 
steppe,  where  he  passed  much  of  his  time,  as 
the  most  healthy  spot  in  the  neighbourhood. 
The  English  burial  service  was  read  over  him 
by  Admiral  Priestman,  from  whom  I  had  these 
particulars.  Two  small  villas  have  been  built 
at  no  great  distance;  I  suppose  also  from  the 
healthiness  of  the  situation,  as  it  had  nothing 
else  to  recommend  it.  Howard  was  spoken 
of  with  exceeding  respect  and  affection,  by  all 
who  remembered  or  knew  him,  and  they  were 
many.' 

Of  all  the  unfortunate  noblemen  exiled  from 
France  by  the  horrors  of  the  revolution,  none 
made  a  nobler  use  of  his  time  and  talents  than 
the  Duke  de  Richelieu;  who,  entering  into  the 
service  of  Russia,  became  governor  of  the 
Crimea,  and  remained  there  until  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Bourbons,  in  1814.  Of  the  place 
of  his  residence,  Heber  says: — 
■  'Odessa  is  a  very  interesting  place;  and 
being  the  seat  of  government,  and  the  only 
quarantine  allowed,  except  Caffa  and  Tagan- 
rog, is,  though  of  very  late  erection,  already 
5# 


54 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


wealthy  and  flourishing.  Too  much  praise 
cannot  be  given  to  the  Duke  of  RicheUeu,  to 
whose  administration,  not  to  any  natural  ad- 
vantages, this  town  owes  its  prosperity.  The 
bay  is  good  and  secure,  but  all  round  is  de- 
sert; and  it  labours  under  the  want  of  a  navi- 
gable river,  and  a  great  scarcity  of  fi-esh  wa- 
ter. There  are  two  wells  in  the  town,  both 
brackish;  and  a  third,  a  very  fine  one,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  bay:  a  fourth  had  been 
just  discovered  when  I  was  there,  in  the  gar- 
den of  an  Italian  merchant,  and  was  talked 
of  like  a  silver  mine.  All  commodities  are 
either  brought  in  barks  from  Cherson,  or 
drawn  over  the  steppe  by  oxen,  who  were  seen 
lying  in  the  streets  and  on  the  new  quay, 
greatly  exhausted  with  thirst,  and  almost  furi- 
ous in  their  struggles  to  get  at  the  water,  when 
it  was  poured  into  the  troughs.  The  situation 
of  the  town,  however,  is  healthy  and  pleasant 
in  other  respects.  The  quarantine  is  large, 
and  well-constructed. 

'  As  far  as  I  could  learn,  (and  I  made  many 
inquiries,)  it  was  very  bad  policy  to  fix  their 
quarantine  at  Odessa,  instead  of  Otchakof, 
where  was  a  city  and  fortress  ready  built,  in  a 


ODESSA. 


55 


situation  perfectly  secure  from  the  Turks,  and 
which,  lying  at  the  junction  of  the  Bog  and 
Dnieper,  is  the  natural  emporium  of  these 
seas.  The  harbour,  I  understand,  is  perfectly 
secure;  and,  even  if  the  Liman  were  unsafe, 
the  Bog  affords  a  constant  shelter.  The  ob- 
servation generally  made  was,  the  necessity 
of  a  secure  quarantine;  to  which  it  was  an- 
swered, that  the  point  of  Kinburn  afforded  a 
situation  even  more  secure  than  Odessa.  If 
these  facts  are  true,  a  wise  government  would 
probably,  without  discouraging  Odessa,  re- 
store the  quarantine  to  Otchakof,  and  allow 
them  both  to  take  their  chance  in  a  fair  com- 
petition. This,  however,  seems  little  under- 
stood in  Russia:  Potemkin  had  no  idea  of  en- 
couraging Cherson,  but  by  ruining  Taganrog: 
and  at  present  Cherson  is  to  be  sacrificed  to 
the  new  favourite,  Odessa.' 


66  BISHOP  HEBER. 

CHAPTER  IIL 

Heber  returns  to  England — takes  orders — marries — and 
settles  at  Hodnet. 

Mr.  Heber  returned  to  this  country  in  1807, 
and  shortly  aflei  wards  took  holy  orders.  The 
valuable  living  of  Hodnet  had  been  reserved 
for  him  since  his  father's  death,  and  being  now 
put  into  possession  of  it,  he  married  Amelia, 
daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Shipley,  Dean  of  St. 
Asaph,  and  (to  adopt  the  words  of  one  of  his 
friends)  '  happy  in  the  prospect  of  those  do- 
mestic endearments  which  no  man  was  more 
qualified  to  enjoy,  settled  himself  in  his  rec- 
tory. In  no  scene  of  his  life,  perhaps,  did  his 
character  appear  in  greater  beauty  than  whilst 
he  was  living  here,  "  seeing  God's  blessings 
spring  out  of  his  mother-earth,  and  eating  his 
own  bread  in  peace  and  {)rivacy."  His  tal- 
ents might  have  made  him  proud,  but  he  was 
humble-minded  as  a  child — eager  to  call  forth 
the  intellectual  stores  of  others,  rather  than 


UODXET. 


67 


to  display  his  own — arguing  witliout  dogma- 
tism, and  convincing  without  triumph — equally 
willing  to  reason  with  the  wise,  or  take  a  share 
in  the  innocent  gaieties  of  a  winter's  fire-side; 
for  it  was  no  part  of  his  creed  that  all  inno- 
cent mirth  ought  to  be  banished  from  the  pur- 
lieus of  a  good  man's  dwelling;  or  that  he  is 
called  upon  to  abstract  himself  from  the  re- 
finements and  civilities  of  life,  as  if  sitting  to 
Teniers  for  a  picture  of  the  Temptations  of 
St.  Anthony.  The  attentions  he  received 
might  have  made  him  selfish,  but  his  own  in- 
clinations were  ever  the  last  he  consulted; 
indeed,  of  all  the  features  in  his  character 
this  was,  perhaps,  the  most  prominent — that 
in  him,  self  did  not  seem  to  be  denied,  to  be 
mortified,  but  to  be  forgotten.  His  love  of 
letters  might  have  made  him  an  inactive  pa- 
rish-priest, but  he  was  daily  amongst  his  pa- 
rishioners, advising  them  in  difficulties,  com- 
forting them  in  distress,  kneeling,  often  to  the 
hazard  of  his  own  life,*  by  their  sick  beds; 
exhorting,  encouraging,  reproving  as  he  saw 

•  Heber  was,  on  one  occasion,  brought  to  the  brink  of  the 
grave  by  a  typhus  fever  caught  in  this  way. 


68 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


need;  where  there  was  strife,  the  peace- 
maker; where  there  was  want,  the  cheerful 
giver.  Yet  in  all  this  there  was  no  parade, 
no  effort,  apparently  not  the  smallest  con- 
sciousness that  his  conduct  differed  from  that 
of  other  men — his  duty  seemed  to  be  his  de- 
light, his  piety  an  instinct.  Many  a  good 
deed  done  by  him  in  secret  only  came  to  light 
when  he  had  been  removed  far  away,  and  but 
for  that  removal  would  have  been  for  ever  hid 
— many  an  instance  of  benevolent  interfer- 
ence where  it  was  least  suspected,  and  of  deli- 
cate attention  towards  those  whose  humble 
rank  in  life  is  too  oflen  thought  to  exempt 
their  superiors  from  all  need  of  mingling 
courtesy  with  kindness.  That  he  was  some- 
times deceived  in  his  favourable  estimate  of 
mankind,  it  would  be  vain  to  deny;  such  a 
guileless,  confiding,  unsuspicious  singleness 
of  heart  as  his,  cannot  always  be  proof  against 
cunning.  But  if  he  had  not  this  worldly 
knowledge,  he  wanted  it  perhaps  in  common 
with  most  men  of  genius  and  virtue;  the 
"  wisdom  of  the  serpent"  was  almost  the  only 
wisdom  in  which  he  did  not  abound.'* 

♦  Quarterly  Review,  No  LXX. 


HODNET. 


69 


'  He  laboured  to  accommodate  his  instruc- 
tions,' says  another  witness,  '  to  the  compre- 
hension of  all;  a  labour  by  no  means  easy  to 
a  mind  stored  with  classic  elegance,  and  an 
imagination  glowing  with  a  thousand  images 
of  sublimity  and  beauty.  He  rejoiced  to  form 
his  manners,  his  habits,  and  his  conversation, 
to  those  who  were  entrusted  to  his  care,  that 
he  might  gain  the  confidence  and  affection  of 
even  the  poorest  among  his  flock;  so  that  he 
might  more  surely  win  their  souls  to  God,  and 
finally,  in  the  day  of  the  last  account,  present 
every  man  faultless  before  His  presence  with 
exceeding  joy.  He  was,  above  all,  singularly 
happy  in  his  visitation  of  the  sick,  and  in  ad- 
ministering consolation  to  those  that  mourned; 
and  his  name  will  long  be  dear,  and  his  memo- 
ry most  precious,  in  the  cottages  of  the  poor, 
by  whose  sick  beds  he  has  often  stood  as  a 
ministering  angel.' 

The  following  anecdote  is  taken  from  a  re- 
cent number  of  the  London  Weekly  Review: — 

'  There  was  in  the  parish  an  old  man  who 
had  been  a  notorious  poacher  in  his  youth,  and 
through  the  combined  influence  of  his  irregular 
mode  of  life,  drunken  habits,  and  depraved  as- 


60 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


sociates,  had  settled  down  into  an  irreligious 
old  age.  He  was  a  widower,  had  survived  his 
children,  shunned  all  society,  and  was  rarely 
seen  abroad.  The  sole  inmate  of  his  lonely 
cottage  was  a  little  grandchild,  in  whom  were 
bound  up  all  the  sympathies  of  his  rugged  na- 
ture, and  on  whom  he  lavished  the  warmest 
caresses. 

'  It  was  considered  an  unaccountable  depar- 
ture from  his  usual  line  of  conduct  when  he 
permitted  little  Philip  to  attend  the  Rector's 
school.  "  Why  not  ?"  was  the  old  man's  reply; 
"  d'ye  think  I  wish  Phil  to  be  as  bad  as  my- 
self ?    i'm  black  enough,  God  knows!'''' 

'  The  old  man  was  taken  ill  and  confined  to 
his  room.  It  was  winter.  He  was  unable  to 
divert  his  mind.  His  complaint  was  a  painful 
one,;  and  there  was  every  probability  that  his 
illness  might  be  of  long  continuance.  A  neigh- 
bour suggested  that  his  little  grandson  should 
read  to  him.  He  listened  at  first  languidly  and 
carelessly;  by  and  bye  with  some  degree  of  in- 
terest; till  at  length  his  little  grandchild  be- 
came the  means  of  fanning  into  a  flame  the 
faint  spark  of  religious  feeling  which  yet  lin- 
gered in  the  old  man's  breast. 


HODNET. 


61 


'  He  expressed  a  wish  that  Mr.  Heber  should 
visit  him;  and  the  good  work  which  it  pleased 
Providence  youthful  innocence  should  begin, 
matured  piety  was  to  carry  on  and  complete. 
It  was  no  ordinary  spectacle.  The  old  man 
lay  upon  his  bed,  in  a  corner  of  the  room,  near 
the  trellised  window.  His  features  were  na- 
turally hard  and  coarse;  and  the  marked  lines 
of  his  countenance  were  distinctly  developed 
by  the  strong  light  which  fell  upon  them.  Aged 
and  enfeebled  as  he  was,  he  seemed  fully  alive 
to  what  was  passing  around  him;  and  I  had 
leisure  to  mark  the  searching  of  his  eye  as  he 
gazed,  with  the  most  intense  anxiety,  on  his 
spiritual  comforter,  and  weighed  every  word 
that  fell  from  him.  The  simplicity  in  which 
Heber  clothed  every  idea — the  facility  with 
which  he  descended  to  the  level  of  the  old 
man's  comprehension — the  earnestness  with 
ivhich  he  strove  not  to  be  misunderstood — and 
the  manner  in  which,  in  spite  of  himself,  his 
voice  occasionally  faltered  as  he  touched  on 
some  thrilling  points  of  our  faith,  struck  me 
forcibly;  while  Philip  stood  on  the  other  side 
of  the  bed,  his  hand  locked  in  his  grandfather's, 
his  bright  blue  eye  dimmed  with  tears  as  he 
6 


63 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


looked  sadly  and  anxiously  from  one  face  to 
another,  evidently  aware  that  some  misfortune 
awaited  him,  though  unconscious  to  what  ex- 
tent. 

'  The  old  man  died — died  in  a  state  of  mind 
so  calm,  so  subdued,  so  penitent  and  resigned, 
"  that  I  feel  myself  cheered  in  my  labours," 
said  Heber,  "  whenever  I  reflect  upon  it." 
Heber  himself  officiated  at  the  funeral.  I 
shall  never  forget,  I  never  wish  to  forget — if 
I  were  cast  to-morrow  on  a  desert  island,  it  is 
one  of  the  few  things  I  should  care  to  remem- 
ber of  the  world  I  had  left  behind  me — the  air, 
the  manner,  the  look,  the  expression  of  hope, 
and  holy  joy,  and  steadfast  confidence,  which 
lit  up  his  noble  countenance  as  he  pronounced 
this  passage  of  our  magnificent  ritual — "  O  Fa- 
ther, raise  us  from  the  death  of  sin  unto  the 
life  of  righteousness,  that  when  wc  shall  depart 
this  life  we  may  rest  in  thee,  as,  our  hope  is,  this 
our  brother  doth."  ' 

The  same  writer  says — 

'  This  air  of  gravity,  which  was  very  observ- 
able in  early  life,  deepened  as  years  rolled  over 
him.  In  almost  any  other  man  it  would  have 
appeared  artificial  and  unnatural.    In  him  it 


■ERMONS  AT  HODNET. 


63 


was  neither.  It  was  inherent  in  his  character; 
it  was  part  and  parcel  of  the  man;  and  it  be- 
came him  well.  It  was  not  the  affected  gravity 
of  a  recluse;  nor  the  churlish  gravity  of  a 
misanthrope;  nor  the  gravity  engendered  by 
spiritual  pride — "  Stand  apart,  I  am  holier 
than  thou" — nor  the  gravity  so  convenient  to 
tliose  who  have  very  great  pretensions  and  a 
very  slender  foundation  on  which  to  rest  them; 
but  the  gravity  of  one  who  felt  he  had  a  heavy 
responsibility  to  discharge,  and  the  most  sol- 
emn obligations  to  fulfil.' 

His  sermons  at  Hodnet  are  characterized  by 
the  author  of  an  article  in  the  Quarterly  Re- 
view, already  quoted,  as  '  sometimes  expand- 
ing into  general  views  of  the  scheme  and  doc- 
trines of  Revelation,  collected  from  an  intimate 
acquaintance,  not  with  commentators,  but  with 
the  details  of  Holy  Writ  itself; — frequently 
drawing  ingenious  lessons  for  Christian  con- 
duct from  the  subordinate  parts  of  a  parable,  a 
miracle,  or  a  history,  which  a  less  imaginative 
mind  would  have  overlooked; — often  enlivened 
by  moral  stories,  with  which  his  multifarious 
reading  supplied  him;  and  occasionally  by  facts 
which  had  come,  perhaps,  under  his  observa- 


64 


BISHOP  faEBER. 


tion,  and  which  he  thought  calculated  to  give 
spirit  or  perspicuity  to  the  truths  he  was  im- 
parting: a  practice  which,  when  judiciously 
restrained,  is  well  adapted  to  secure  the  rustic 
hearer  from  the  fate  of  Eutychus,  without  giv- 
ing offence  even  to  nicer  brethren:  of  which  the 
powerful  effect  is  discoverable  (though  the 
figures  may  be  grosser  than  the  times  would 
now  admit)  in  the  sermons  of  Latimer  and  the 
Reformers;  subsequently,  in  those  of  Taylor 
and  South;  and  still  more  recently,  in  the  po- 
pular harangues  of  Whitfield  and  Wesley;  and 
a  practice,  we  will  add,  which  derives  counte- 
nance and  authority  from  the  use  of  parables 
in  the  preaching  of  our  Lord.' 

Of  Heber's  language  in  the  pulpit  the  same 
critic  says — '  Polished  it  was,  for  such  it  Avas 
in  his  ordinary  conversation,  yet  seldom  above 
the  reach  of  a  country  congregation,  and  some- 
times(when  there  was  aduty  tobe  driven  home) 
plainspoken.to  a  degree  for  which  few  modern 
men  would  have  had  courage.  Frequent- 
ly it  exhibited  metaphors,  bold,  and  even  start- 
ling; and  ever  possessed  a  singular  charm  in 
the  happy  adoption  of  expressions  from  the 
pure  and  undefiled  English  of  our  Bible,  with 
which  his  mind  was  thoroughly  imbued.' 


HYMNS. 


65 


In  the  Christian  Observer  of  131 1  Heber 
pubHshed  the  first  specimens  of  his  Hijmns: 
prefixing  the  following  modest  and  excellent 
account  of  his  views  in  composing  them. 

'  The  following  Hymns  are  part  of  an  in- 
tended series,  appropriate  to  the  Sundays,  and 
principal  holidays  of  the  year;  connected  in 
in  some  degree  with  their  particular  Collects 
and  Gospels,  and  designed  to  be  sung  between 
the  Nicene  Creed  and  the  Sermon.  The  effect 
of  an  arrangement  of  this  kind,  though  only 
.partially  adopted,  is  very  striking  in  the  Romish 
liturgy ;  and  its  place  should  seem  to  be  imper- 
fectly supplied  by  a  few  verses  of  a  Psalm,  en- 
tirely unconnected  with  the  peculiar  devotions 
of  the  day,  and  selected  at  the  discretion  of  a 
clerk  or  organist.  On  the  merits  of  the  present 
imperfect  essays  the  author  is  unaffectedly  dif- 
fident; and  as  his  labours  are  intended  for  the 
use  of  his  own  congregation,  he  will  be  thank- 
ful for'any  suggestion  which  may  advance  or 
correct  them.  In  one  respect,  at  least,  he 
hopes  the  following  poems  will  not  be  found 
reprehensible; — no  fulsome  or  indecorous  lan- 
guage has  been  knowingly  adopted:  no  erotic 
addresses  to  Him  whom  no  unclean  lip  can  ap- 


66 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


proach,  no  allegory  ill  understood,  and  worse 
applied.  It  is  not  enough,  in  his  opinion,  to 
object  to  such  expressions  that  they  are  fanati- 
cal; they  are  positively  profane.  When  our 
Saviour  was  on  earth,  and  in  great  humility 
conversant  with  mankind;  when  he  sat  at  the 
tables,  and  washed  the  feet,  and  healed  the 
diseases  of  his  creatures;  yet  did  not  his  dis- 
ciples give  him  any  more  familiar  name  than 
Master  or  Lord.  And  now  at  the  right  hand 
of  his  Father's  majesty,  shall  we  address  him 
with  ditties  of  embraces  and  passion,  or  lan- 
guage which  it  would  be  disgraceful  in  an  earth- 
ly sovereign  to  endure .''  Such  expressions,  it  is 
said,  are  taken  from  Scripture;  but  even  if  the 
original  application,  which  is  often  doubtful, 
were  clearly  and  unequivocally  ascertained, 
yet, though  the  collective  Christian  church  may 
very  properly  be  personified  as  the  spouse  of 
Christ,  an  application  of  such  language  to  indi- 
vidual believers  is  as  dangerous  as  it  is  absurd 
and  unauthorized.  Nor  is  it  going  too  far  to 
assert,  that  the  brutalities  of  a  common  swearer 
can  hardly  bring  religion  into  more  sure  con- 
tempt, or  more  scandalously  profane  the  Name 
which  is  above  every  name  in  heaven  and  earth, 


HYMNS. 


67 


than  certain  epithets  applied  to  Christ  in  our 
popular  collections  of  religious  poetry.' 

'  Heber  subsequently  arranged  those  hymns, 
with  some  others  by  various  writers,  in  a  regu- 
lar series  adapted  to  the  services  of  the  Church 
of  England  throughout  the  year,  and  it  was  his 
intention  to  publish  them  soon  after  his  arrival 
in  India;  but  the  arduous  duties  of  his  station 
left  little  time,  during  the  short  life  there  al- 
lotted to  him,  for  any  employment  not  imme- 
diately connected  with  his  diocese.  This  ar- 
rangement of  them  has  been  published  since  his 
death.' 

One  of  the  most  admired  is  that  for 

*  SUx\D.\Y  AFTER  CHRISTMAS,   OR  THE 
CIRCUMCISION. 

'  Lord  of  mercy  and  of  might ! 
Of  mankind  the  life  and  light  ! 
Maker  !  teacher  infinite  ! 

Jesus  !  hear  and  save  ! 

'  Who,  when  sin's  tremendous  doom. 
Gave  Creation  to  the  tomb, 
Didst  not  scorn  the  Virgin's  womb, 
Jesus  !  hear  and  save  ! 

•  Mighty  monarch  !  Saviour  mild  ! 
Humbled  to  a  mortal  cliild. 
Captive,  beaten,  bound,  revil'd, 
Jeeun  '.  hear  and  save ! 


68 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


'  Throned  above  celestial  tilings, 
Borne  alolt  on  an<;els'  wings, 
Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of  kings  '. 
Jesus  I  hear  and  save  ! 

'  Who  shalt  yet  return  from  high. 
Robed  in  might  and  majesty, 
Hear  us  !  help  us  when  we  cry  I 
Jesus  t  hear  and  save  '.' 

But  perhaps  the  most  exquisite  of  them  all 
is  the  shortest. 

VESPERS. 

'  God  that  madest  Earth  and  Heaven, 

Darkness  and  light ! 
Who  the  day  for  toil  hast  given, 

For  rest  the  night  ! 
May  thine  angel  guards  defend  ds. 
Slumber  sweet  thy  mercy  send  us. 
Holy  dreams  and  hopes  attend  ug. 

This  livelong  night  '.' 


POEMS  PUBLISHED. 


69 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Poems  published — Canon  of  St.  Asaph — Bampton  Lec- 
tures— Heber  elected  Preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn — Life 
of  Jeremy  Taylor. 

In  the  year  1812  Mr.  Heber  republished  the 
Poems  ah"eady  mentioned,  together  with  con- 
siderable additions,  in  a  small  volume,  which 
soon  obtained  much  popularity.  '  From  the 
original  pieces  of  that  volume,'  (says  a  critic 
already  quoted,)  '  it  would  be  easy  to  select 
thoughts  of  animation  and  of  tenderness;  but 
unless  perhaps  "  The  Passage  ofthe  Red  Sea" 
(which  is  a  noble  copy  of  verses)  should  be 
excepted,  nothing  that,  as  a  whole,  comes  up 
to  the  standard  of  Palestine.  In  the  transla- 
tions of  Pindar  which  it  contains,  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  the  deep-mouthed  Theban  is 
not  made  to  speak  too  much  after  the  manner 
of  the  great  minstrel  of  Scotland;  still  they  are 
executed  with  genuine  spirit  and  elegance,  and 
the  r£unbling  movements  of  an  author,  who,  in 
his  anxiety  to  escape  from  an  Hiero  or  an 


70 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


Agesias,  is  very  apt  to  run  riot  and  lose  his 
way,  are  connected  with  no  common  success.' 

After  this  publication,  '  he  withdrew,'  (says 
the  same  writer,)  '  almost  entirely  from  a  pur- 
suit to  which  he  was  by  temper  strongly  in- 
clined, and  devoted  himself  to  the  unobtrusive 
duties  of  the  clerical  office.  Still,  out  of  the 
fulness  of  his  heart,  or  at  the  call  of  his  friends, 
he  would  at  intervals  give  proof  that  his  hand 
had  not  forgot  its  cunning,  however  it  might 
have  hung  up  the  harp;  and  a  specimen  will 
not  displease  our  readers: — 
"  FAREWELL. 
"  When  eyes  are  beaming 

What  never  tongue  might  tell. 
When  tears  are  streaming 
From  their  crystal  cell ; 
When  hands  are  linked  that  dread  to  part. 
And  heart  is  met  by  throbbing  heart. 
Oh  !  bitter,  bitter  is  the  smart 

Of  tliem  that  bid  farewell ! 
"  When  hope  is  chidden 

That  fain  of  bliss  would  tell. 
And  love  forbidden 

In  the  breast  to  dwell ; 
When  fettered  by  a  viewless  chain. 
We  turn  and  gaze,  and  turn  again, 
Oh  !  death  were  mercy  to  tlie  pain 
Of  them  tliat  bi  J  farewell !"— MS  ' 


BAMPTON  LECTURES. 


71 


He  was  about  this  time  appointed  one  of  the 
Canons  of  St.  Asaph,  and  in  1816  published 
his  Lectures  *  On  the  Personality  and  Office 
of  the  Christian  Comforter. 

'  The  Bampton  Lectures  which  he  published 
in  1816  established  his  reputation  in  the  theo- 
logical world;  for,  though  many  dissented  from 
his  views  on  some  speculative  points,  every 
competent  judge  was  compelled  to  do  justice 
to  the  depth  of  learning,  the  variety  of  research, 
and  the  richness  of  illustration  which  those 
compositions  displayed.' 

The  conclusion  of  the  work  thus  character- 
ized is  an  admirable  specimen  of  the  author's 
style.  After  recapitulating  the  method  which 
he  had  followed  out,  he  thus  sums  up: — 

'  Above  all  it  has  been  mine  aim  to  show 
that  by  the  Comforter  whom  Christ  foretold, 
and  by  those  blessed  aids  which  he  has  for 
Christ's  sake  dispensed  to  mankind,  the  faith- 
ful of  every  age  and  nation  are,  no  less  than 
the  Apostles  tliemseh  es,  infallibly  conducted 
to  that  truth  which  is  in  Jesus:  and  that  "  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  and  for 
instruction  in  righteousness,"  the  Scripture  of 
the  last,  no  less  than  of  the  former  covenant, 
is  "  given  by  the  inspiration  of  God." 


72 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


'  Nor  do  we  expect,  nor  do  we  desire  those 
further  aids  to  knowledge  and  to  holiness  which 
the  Romanists  would  seek  for  in  the  authority 
whether  of  their  collective  Church,  or  of  a 
single  ecclesiastical  officer.  To  us  it  seems 
presumptuous  and  unreasonable,  when  a  rule 
has  been  given  by  God  himself,  to  go  on  de- 
manding at  his  hands  another  and  yet  another 
criterion;  to  peer  about,  in  the  full  blaze  of 
sunshine,  for  the  beams  of  a  supplementary 
star;  or  to  subject  the  inspiration  of  the  imme- 
diate Apostles  of  our  Lord  to  the  authoritative 
decision  of  their,  surely,  less  enlightened  suc- 
cessors. But,  neither  in  the  ancient  synagogue, 
nor  in  that  primitive  Church  which  the  Messiah 
formed  on  its  model,  is  any  claim  to  be  found, 
when  their  language  is  rightly  apprehended,  to 
a  privilege  so  extraordinary  as  that  of  them- 
selves interpreting  the  charter  whence  they 
derived  their  authoritj-.  In  things  indifferent, 
and  in  controversies  between  the  brethren,  the 
sentence  of  the  Church  was  unquestionably 
binding  on  the  conscience  of  all  its  members. 
But  v/here  God  and  man  were  parties,  they 
could  express  their  opinion  only;  and  the  most 
awful  denunciation  which  they  had  it  in  their 


BAMPTON  LECTURES. 


73 


power  to  utter,  is  a  confession  of  their  own 
incompetency.  The  anathema,  of  which  so 
formidable  ideas  are  entertained,  is  in  its  very 
terms  no  other  than  an  appeal  to  the  final 
judgment  of  that  Lord  \vho  shall  hereafter  come 
in  glory;  that  Lord  before  whom,  as  before  his 
proper  Master,  every  individual  must  stand  or 
fall;  and  whose  laws  must  be  applied  by  every 
individual  for  himself  to  his  own  case,  and  at 
his  own  exceeding  peril. 

'  If,  then,  the  Scriptures  be,  as  these  pretend, 
obscure,  they  arc  obscure  to  those  who  perish. 
No  remedy  was  provided  under  the  elder  Co- 
venant for  those  to  whose  instruction  neither 
Moses  nor  the  Prophets  sufficed;  nor  does  St. 
Peter  in  the  New  (though  in  a  case  where  he 
admits  the  difficulty  of  God's  word)  direct  the 
ignorant  and  unstable  to  apply  for  further  light 
to  himself  or  his  Roman  successors.  Nor,  in- 
deed, is  it  intelligible,  even  on  the  established 
principles  of  Popery,  in  what  manner  the  re- 
scripts of  their  Pontiff,  and  the  decrees  of  their 
Council,  could  product,  any  more  than  the  an- 
cient books  of  Scripture,  the  effects  which  they 
fondly  ascribe  to  them.  L^nless  the  inspired 
interpreter  were  omnipresent  as  well  as  infalli- 
7 


74 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


ble,  his  edicts  must,  no  less  than  every  other 
composition,  whether  human  or  divine,  be  lia- 
ble to  perversion  or  cavil.  If  the  secular  arm 
be  withdrawn,  it  may  be  suspected  that  the 
sentence  of  a  council  will  not  very  greatly 
avail  with  those  by  whom  the  words  of  Peter 
or  Paul  are  evaded  or  d,espised;  nor  will  any 
solid  satisfaction  be  afforded  by  the  cumbrous 
mazes  of  the  canonists  and  schoolmen,  to  those 
weak  brethren  who  have  already  lost  their  way 
in  the  narrow  compass  of  one  little  volume. 

'  But,  in  the  essentials  of  salvation,  and  to 
those  who  sincerely  desire  to  be  taught  of  God, 
are  the  Scriptures  really  obscure.'  Let  those 
bear  witness,  whom  by  these  means  alone,  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  guided  into  all  necessary 
truth!  Let  those  bear  witness  who  have  fled 
from  the  perturbed  streams  of  human  contro- 
versy to  this  source  of  living  water,  whereof 
"  if  a  man  drink  he  shall  never  thirst  again." 
Let  the  mighty  army  of  the  faithful  bear  wit- 
ness, who,  believing  no  less  than  they  find,  and 
desiring  to  believe  no  more,  have  worshipped 
in  simplicity  of  heart,  from  the  earliest  ages  of 
the  Messiah's  kingdom,  the  Father,  the  Son, 
and  the  comfortable  Spirit  of  God!  I  do  not, — 


BAMPTON  LECTURES. 


75 


God  forbid  that  I  should  in  this  place,  and  be- 
fore so  many  of  those  who  must  hereafter 
unite  their  amplest  stores  both  of  classical  and 
sacred  learning  in  his  cause  from  whom  we 
have  received  all  things! — I  do  not  deny  the 
efficacy,  the  propriety,  the  absolute  necessity 
of  offering  our  choicest  gifts  of  every  kind  on 
the  altar  of  that  religion  to  whose  ministry  we 
are  called,  and  of  concentrating  all  the  lights 
of  history  and  science  to  the  illustration  of 
these  wonderful  testimonies.  But,  though,  to 
illustrate  and  defend  the  faith,  such  aids  are, 
doubtless,  needful,  the  faith  itself  can  spring 
from  no  other  source  than  that  volume  which 
alone  can  make  men  wise  to  everlasting  salva- 
tion, that  engrafted  word,  which,  though  the 
ignorant  and  unstable  may  wrest  it  to  their 
own  destruction,  is,  to  those  who  receive  it 
with  meekness  and  with  faith,  the  wisdom  and 
the  power  of  God. 

*  By  this  book  the  Paraclete  has  guided  the 
Church  into  whatever  truths  the  Church  of 
Christ  has,  at  any  time,  believed  or  known; 
by  this  book  and  the  doctrine  which  it  contains, 
he  has  convinced  the  world  of  sin,  and  justified 
the  Son  of  Man  from  the  malicious  slanders  of 


76 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


his  enemies;  by  this  book  he  consoles  us  for 
the  absence  of  our  Lord,  and  instructs  us  in 
things  to  come;  by  this  he  reigns;  where  this 
IS  found  his  kingdom  reaches  also;  by  this 
weapon,  proceeding  from  the  mouth  of  God, 
shall  the  enemies  of  his  Christ  be  at  length  ex- 
tirpated from  the  world;  and  by  this,  it  may 
be  thought,  as  by  the  rule  of  God's  approba- 
tion, shall  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  be,  finally, 
made  known,  in  that  day  when  "  whosoever  is 
not  found  written  in  the  book  of  life,  shall  be 
cast  into  the  lake  of  fire." 

'Wherefore,  holy  brethren,  partakers  of  the 
spiritual  gift,  seeing  that  we  have  not  followed 
after  cunningly  devised  fables,  let  us,  each  in 
his  station,  abound  in  the  labour  of  the  Lord, 
diffusing  as  we  may  that  saving  knowledge,  the 
possession  of  which  alone  could  make  it  expe- 
dient for  the  disciples  of  Christ  that  their 
Master  should  depart  and  leave  them !  And 
let  us  pour  forth,  above  all,  our  fervent  prayers 
to  that  Almighty  Spirit,  who  hath  given  us 
these  holy  records  of  his  will,  that,  by  his  sup- 
porting grace,  they  may  bring  forth  in  us  the 
fruit  of  holiness,  and  the  harvest  of  life  without 
-end,  through  the  mercies  of  the  Father,  the 


PREACHER  AT  LmCOLN's  INN.  77 


merits  of  the  Son,  and  the  strong  protection  of 
the  Comforter.' 

It  may  be  proper  to  mention,  that  the  eight 
'  Divinity  Sermons'  preached  annually  before 
the  University  of  Oxford,  and  thereafter  print- 
ed, within  two  months  of  their  delivery,  are 
called  the  Bampton  Lectures  in  consequence 
of  their  being  so  preached  and  printed  at  the 
charge  of  an  estate  bequeathed  to  the  Uni- 
versity by  the  Rev.  John  Bampton,  sometime 
Canon  of  Salisbury  ;  and  that  the  election  to 
preach  these  discourses  has  always  been  con- 
sidered as  one  of  the  highest  compliments 
which  the  University  can  bestow  on  any  of  its 
clerical  members.  In  Heber's  case  the  com- 
pliment was  singularly  enhanced  by  the  con- 
sideration of  his  youth,  as  compared  with  the 
age  at  which  most  of  his  predecessors  had 
been  appointed. 

This  high  honour  was  followed  by  another  ; 
namely,  his  election  to  be  preacher  at  Lincoln's 
Inn.  In  this  new  character  he  had  to  reside 
a  certain  part  of  the  year  in  London,  and  to 
deliver  sermons  in  the  presence  of  one  of  the 
most  learned  societies  of  the  metropolis.  His 
manner  of  acquitting  himself  in  these  func- 
7* 


73 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


tions  gave  liigh  gratification  to  the  numerous 
friends  with  w  iioai  liis  intercourse  was  renewed 
in  consequence  of  his  partial  removal  of  resi- 
dence to  London  ;  among  wliom  we  may  men- 
tion the  names  of  his  contemporaries  at  Oxford, 
by  this  time  eminent  in  public  life,  the  Right 
Honourable  Charles  Williams  Wynn,  Charles 
Grant,  and  Robert  Wilmot  Horton,  Robert 
Grant,  Esq.  M.  P.,  Sir  Robert  Inglis,  Bart., 
and  the  family  of  the  Thorntons. 

Except  an  article  now  and  then  in  The 
Quarterly  Review,  and  The  Christian  Ob- 
server, Mr.  Heber  had  published  nothing  for 
several  years,  when,  in  1822,  he  undertook 
to  furnish  a  life  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  and  a  cri- 
tical examination  of  iiis  writings,  for  a  new 
edition  of  the  works  of  that  great  and  good 
prelate.  Heber's  Life  of  Taylor,  since  pub- 
lished separately  in  two  small  volumes,  is,  as 
regards  literary  taste,  one  of  the  most  classi- 
cal productions  of  our  times — and,  in  a  re- 
ligious point  of  view,  one  of  the  most  solidly 
valuable.  '  If  it  be  compared,'  (says  one  of 
his  critics,)  '  with  the  "  Sermons  on  the  Per- 
sonality and  OlRce  of  the  Christian  Comfort- 
er," it  will  be  found  that  it  is  the  v.'ork  of 


LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 


79 


maturer  knowledge,  and  a  more  chastised 
taste  ;  the  style  retaining  the  vigour,  perhaps 
somewhat  of  the  floridness,  of  former  years, 
but  without  being  compHcated,  ambitious,  or 
constrained  ;  the  matter  exhibiting  much 
thought,  as  well  as  ample  reading,  and  setting 
forth,  without  reserve,  the  author's  own  views 
of  most  of  the  controverted  points  of  church 
doctrine  and  discipline,  which  his  subject  natu- 
rally led  him  to  pass  in  review.  But  the  work 
derives  a  further  interest  from  the  evident  sym- 
pathy with  which  his  biographer  (perhaps  un- 
consciously) contemplates  the  life  and  writings 
of  that  heavenly-minded  man: — Much,  indeed, 
they  had  in  common — a  poetical  temperament; 
a  hatred  of  intolerance;  great  simplicity;  an 
abomination  of  every  sordid  and  narrow-minded 
feeling  ;  an  earnest  desire  to  make  religion 
practical  instead  of  speculative:  and  faith, 
vivid  in  proportion  to  the  vigour  of  high 
imagination.'* 

The  following  extract  from  the  Life  of 
Jeremy  Taylor  will,  we  doubt  not,  gratify  all 
our  readers,  and  stimulate  the  curiosity  of  those 
who  have  not  as  yet  perused  the  work  itself. 

*  Quarterly  Review. 


80 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


'  Of  Taylor's  domestic  habits  and  private 
character  much  is  not  known,  but  all  which  is 
known  is  amiable.  "  Love,"  as  well  as  "  ad- 
miration," is  said  to  have  "  waited  on  him," 
in  Oxford.  In  Wales,  and  amid  the  mutual 
irritation  and  violence  of  civil  and  religious 
hostility,  we  find  him  conciliating,  when  a 
prisoner,  the  favour  of  his  keepers,  at  the 
same  time  that  he  preserved,  undiminished, 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  own  party. 
Laud,  in  the  height  of  his  power  and  full- 
blown dignity;  Charles,  in  his  deep  reverses; 
Hatton,  Vaughan,  and  Conway,  amid  the  tu- 
mults of  civil  war;  and  Evelyn,  in  the  tran- 
quillity of  his  elegant  retirement;  seem  alike 
to  have  cherished  his  friendship,  and  coveted 
his  society.  The  same  genius  which  extorted 
the  commendation  of  Jeanes,  for  the  variety  of 
its  research  and  vigour  of  its  argument,  was 
also  an  object  of  interest  and  affection  with 
the  young,  and  rich,  and  beautiful  Katherine 
Philips  ;  and  few  writers,  who  have  expressed 
their  opinions  so  strongly,  and,  sometimes,  so 
unguardedly  as  he  has  done,  have  lived  and 
died  with  so  much  praise  and  so  little  cen- 
sure.   Much  of  this  felicity  may  be  probably 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  TAYLOR. 


81 


referred  to  an  engaging  appearance  and  a 
pleasing  manner ;  but  its  cause  must  be 
sought,  in  a  still  greater  degree,  in  the  evident 
kindliness  of  heart,  which,  if  the  uniform  tenour 
of  a  man's  writings  is  any  index  to  his  charac- 
ter, must  have  distinguished  him  from  most 
men  living:  in  a  temper,  to  all  appearance 
warm,  but  easily  conciliated ;  and  in  that  which, 
as  it  is  one  of  the  least  common,  is  of  all  dis- 
positions the  most  attractive,  not  merely  a. 
neglect,  but  a  total  forgetfulness  of  all  selfish 
feeling.  It  is  this,  indeed,  which  seems  to 
have  constituted  the  most  striking  feature  of 
his  character.  Other  men  have  been,  to 
judge  from  their  writings  and  their  lives,  to 
all  appearance,  as  religious,  as  regular  in 
their  devotions,  as  diligent  in  the  performance 
of  all  which  the  laws  of  God  o>  man  require 
from  us  ;  but  with  Taylor  his  duty  seems  to 
have  been  a  delight,  his  piety  a  passion.  His 
faith  was  the  more  vivid  in  proportion  as  his 
fancy  was  more  intensely  vigorous;  with  him 
the  objects  of  his  hope  and  reverence  were 
scarcely  unseen  or  future  ;  his  imagination 
daily  conducted  him  to  "  diet  with  gods,"  and 
elevated  him  to  tiie  same  height  above  the 


82 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


world,  and  the  same  nearness  to  ineffable 
things,  which  Milton  ascribes  to  his  allegori- 
cal "  cherub  Contemplation." 

'  With  a  mind  less  accurately  disciplined  in 
the  trammels  and  harness  of  the  schools — less 
deeply  imbued  with  ancient  learning — less  uni- 
formly accustomed  to  compare  his  notions  with 
the  dictates  of  elder  saints  and  sages,  and  sub- 
mit his  novelties  to  the  authority  and  censure 
of  his  superiors — such  ardour  of  fancy  might 
have  led  him  into  dangerous  errors  ;  or  have 
estranged  him  too  far  from  the  active  duties, 
the  practical  wisdom  of  life,  and  its  dull  and 
painful  realities  :  and,  on  the  other  hand,  his 
logic  and  learning — his  veneration  for  antiquity 
and  precedent — and  his  monastic  notions  of 
obedience  in  matters  of  faith  as  well  as  doc- 
trine— might  have  fettered  the  energies  of  a 
less  ardent  mind,  and  weighed  him  down  into 
an  intolerant  opposer  of  all  unaccustomed 
truths,  and,  in  his  own  practice,  a  superstitious 
formalist.  Happily,  however,  for  himself  and 
the  world,  Taylor  was  neither  an  enthusiast 
nor  a  bigot :  and,  if  there  are  some  few  of  his 
doctrines  from  which  our  assent  is  withheld 
by  the  decisions  of  the  church  and  the  Ian- 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  TAYLOR. 


83 


guage  of  Scripture, — even  these  (while  in 
themselves  they  are  almost  altogether  specu- 
lative, and  such  as  could  exercise  no  inju- 
rious influence  on  the  essentials  of  faith  or  the 
obligations  to  holiness,)  may  be  said  to  have 
a  leaning  to  the  side  of  piety,  and  to  have 
their  foundation  in  a  love  for  the  Deity,  and 
a  desire  to  vindicate  his  goodness,  no  less  than 
to  excite  mankind  to  aspire  after  greater  de- 
grees of  perfection. 

'  In  the  lessons  which  flow  from  this  chair, 
in  the  incense  which  flames  on  this  altar,  the 
sound  of  worldly  polemics  is  hushed,  the  light 
of  worldly  fires  becomes  dim.  We  see  a  saint 
in  his  closet,  a  Christian  bishop  in  his  ministry ; 
and  we  rise  from  the  intercourse  impressed 
and  softened  with  a  sense  how  much  our  own 
practice  yet  needs  amendment,  and  how  mighty 
has  been  that  faith  of  which  these  are  the  fruits, 
that  hope  of  which  these  are  the  pledges  and 
prelibations. 

'  Of  the  broader  and  more  general  lines  of 
Taylor's  literary  character,  a  very  few  obser- 
vations may  be  sufficient.  The  greatness  of 
his  attainments,  and  the  powers  of  his  mind, 
are  evident  in  all  his  writings,  and  to  the  least 


84 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


attentive  of  his  readers.  It  is  hard  to  point  out 
a  branch  of  learning  or  of  scientific  pursuit  to 
which  he  does  not  occasionally  allude  ;  or  any 
author  of  eminence,  either  ancient  or  modern, 
with  whom  he  does  not  evince  himself  ac- 
quainted. And  it  is  certain,  that  as  very  few 
other  writers  have  had  equal  riches  to  display, 
so  he  is  apt  to  display  his  stores  with  a  lavish 
exuberance,  which  the  severer  taste  of  Hooker 
or  of  Barrow  would  have  condemned  as  osten- 
tatious, or  rejected  as  cumbersome.  Yet  he 
is  far  from  a  mere  reporter  of  other  men's  argu- 
ments,— a  textuary  of  fathers  and  schoolmen, 
— who  resigns  his  reason  into  the  hands  of  his 
predecessors,  and  who  employs  no  other  in- 
strument for  convincing  their  readers  than  a 
lengthened  string  of  authorities.  His  famili- 
arity with  the  stores  of  ancient  and  modern 
literature  is  employed  to  illustrate  more  fre- 
quently than  to  establish  his  positions  ;  and 
may  be  traced,  not  so  much  in  direct  citation, 
(though  of  this,  too,  there  is,  perhaps,  more 
than  sufficient,)  as  in  the  abundance  of  his 
allusions,  the  character  of  his  imagery,  and 
the  frequent  occurrence  of  terms  of  foreign 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  TAYLOR. 


85 


derivation,  or  employed  in  a  foreign  and  unu- 
sual meaning. 

'  On  the  other  hand,  few  circumstances  can 
be  named  which  so  greatly  contribute  to  the 
richness  of  his  matter,  the  vivacity  of  his  style, 
and  the  harmony  of  his  language,  as  those 
copious'drafts  on  all  which  is  wise  or  beautiful 
or  extraordinary,  in  ancient  writers  or  in  foreign 
tongues  ;  and  the  very  singularity  and  hazard 
of  his  phrases  have  not  unfrequently  a  peculiar 
charm,  which  the  observers  of  a  tamer  and 
more  ordinary  diction  can  never  hope  to  in- 
spire. 

'  It  is  on  devotional  and  moral  subjects, 
however,  that  the  peculiar  character  of  his 
mind  is  most,  and  most  successfully,  devel- 
oped. To  this  service  he  devotes  his  most 
glowing  language  ;  to  this  his  aptest  illustra- 
tions :  his  thoughts  and  his  words  at  once  burst 
into  a  flame,  when  touched  by  the  coals  of  this 
altar  ;  and  whether  he  describes  the  duties,  or 
dangers,  or  hopes  of  man,  or  the  mercy,  pow- 
er, and  justice  of  the  Most  High  ;  whether  he 
exhorts  or  instructs  his  brethren,  or  ofl^ers  up 
his  supplications  in  their  behalf  to  the  com- 
mon Father  of  all: — his  conceptions  and  his 
8 


86 


BISHOF  HEBER. 


expressions  belong  to  the  loftiest  and  most  sa- 
cred description  of  poetry;  of  which  they  on- 
ly want,  what  they  cannot  be  said  to  need, 
the  name  and  the  metrical  arrangement. 

'  It  is  this  distinctive  excellence,  still  more 
than  the  other  qualifications  of  learning  and 
logical  acuteness,  which  has  placed  him,  even 
in  that  age  of  gigantic  talent,  on  an  eminence 
superior  to  any  of  his  immediate  contempora- 
ries; which  has  exempted  him  from  the  com- 
parative neglect  into  which  the  dry  and  repul- 
sive learning  of  Andrews  and  Sanderson  has 
fallen  ; — which  has  left  behind  the  acuteness 
of  Hales,  and  the  imaginative  and  copious 
eloquence  of  Bishop  Hall,  at  a  distance  hardly 
less  than  the  cold  elegance  of  Clark,  and  the 
dull  good  sense  of  Tillotson  ;  and  has  seated 
him,  by  the  almost  unanimous  estimate  of  pos- 
terity, on  the  same  lofty  elevation  with  Hooker 
and  with  Barrow. 

'  Of  such  a  triumvirate,  who  shall  settle  the 
precedence  ?  Yet  it  may,  perhaps,  be  not  far 
from  the  truth,  to  observe  that  Hooker  claims 
the  foremost  rank  in  sustained  and  classic  dig- 
nity of  style,  in  political  and  pragmatical  wis- 
dom; that  to  Barrow  the  praise  must  be  as- 


LIFE  or  BISHOP  TAYLOR. 


87 


signed  of  the  closest  and  clearest  views,  and 
of  a  taste  the  most  controlled  and  chastened  ; 
but  that  in  imagination,  in  interest,  in  that 
which  more  properly  and  exclusively  deserves 
the  name  of  genius,  Taylor  is  to  be  placed  be- 
fore either.  The  first  awes  most,  the  second 
convinces  most,  the  third  persuades  and  de- 
lights most  :  and,  (according  to  the  decision 
of  one  whose  own  rank  amorig^the  ornaments 
of  English  literature  yet  remains  to  be  deter- 
mined by  posterity,)  Hooker  is  the  object  of 
our  reverence,  Barrow  of  our  admiration,  and 
Jeremy  Taylor  of  our  love.' 

This  admirable  piece  of  biography  perma- 
nently placed  Heber  among  the  first  of  our 
modern  writers. 


88 


BISHOP  HEBER 


CHAPTER  V. 

Heber  invited  to  take  upon  him  the  Charge  of  the  Church 
in  India — he  declines — and  on  further  consideration 
accepts  it — consecrated  Bishop  of  Calcutta — address 
to  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge — 
embarks  for  India — Voyage. 

Early  in  IS^the  news  of  the  death  of  Dr. 
Middleton,  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  arrived  in  Eng- 
land ;  and,  chiefly  through  tlie  instrumentality 
of  his  friend,  Mr.  Williams  Wynn,  the  Preach- 
er of  Lincoln's  Inn  was  invited  to  be  his  suc- 
cessor in  that  see.  His  situation,  at  the  time 
when  this  proposal  was  made  to  him,  has  been 
thus  sketched  by  one  of  his  friends. 

'  Mr.  Heber's  election  as  preacher  at  Lin- 
coln's Inn  was  a  very  flattering  distinction, 
whether  the  character  of  the  electors  be  con- 
sidered, or  the  merits  of  his  predecessor,  or 
those  of  the  distinguished  persons  before  whom 
he  was  preferred  ;  valuable,  moreover,  as  pla- 
cing somewhat  more  "  in  oculis  civium"  a 
man  intended  by  nature  for  a  less  obscure 
station  than  that  which  he  had  for  years  been 


INVITED  TO  INDIA. 


89 


filling, — though  assuredly  that  was  one  which 
he,  had  it  been  so  ordained,  would  have  con- 
tinued to  fill  to  his  dying  day,  without  any 
querulous  suspicion  that  he  had  fallen  on  evil 
times  when  merit  is  overlooked,  and  talent 
suffered  to  spend  itself  on  an  unworthy  field. 

'  Thus  usefully  and  happily  was  he  engaged; 
— in  town,  occupying  an  honourable  and  im- 
portant situation,  and  with  easy  access  to  men 
of  letters,  of  whom  the  capital  must  ever  be 
the  resort; — in  the  country,  inhabiting  a  par- 
sonage, built  by  himself  in  a  situation  which 
he  had  selected,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  most 
of  his  kindred,  amidst  friends  who  loved  and 
reverenced  him,  and  in  a  parish  where  none 
would  have  desired  a  greater  satisfaction  than 
to  have  done  him  a  service; — when  he  was 
summoned  from  scenes  where,  to  use  a  beau- 
tiful expression  of  Warburton's,  "  he  had  hung 
a  thought  upon  every  thorn,"  to  take  upon 
himself  the  government  of  the  church  in  India. 

'  What  his  struggles  at  that  moment  were, 
those  who  were  near  him  at  the  time  know 
well.  How  could  such  a  man  contemplate 
such  a  charge  without  some  self-distrust.' 
How  could  he  give  up  his  country  without  a 
8* 


90 


BISHOP  HEBER 


pang?  How  could  he  look  forward  to  an  In- 
dian climate  without  apprehension — not,  in- 
deed, for  himself,  (for  of  himself  he  was  ever 
prodigal,)  but  for  his  wife  and  child?  Still  a 
splendid  opportunity  of  usefulness  was  offered 
him;  and  accustomed  as  he  was,  in  a  degree 
quite  characteristic,  to  recognize  the  superin- 
tending hand  of  Providence  in  all  the  lesser 
events  of  life,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that, 
in  one  of  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  this, 
he  would  see  it  no  longer.  After  much  delib- 
eration he  refused  the  appointment,  not  how- 
ever without  some  misgiving  of  heart:  he 
shortly  after  withdrew  his  refusal,  and  was 
then  satisfied  that  he  had  acted  right.  Secu- 
lar minds  may  look,  and  have  looked,  for  the 
secular  motives  which  might  have  actuated 
him;  but,  in  truth, — 

He  lieard  a  voice  lliey  couM  not  hear, 

Which  said,  no  longer  stay; 
He  saw  a  hand  they  could  not  see, 

Which  beckoned  him  away.' 

The  nature  of  the  duty  to  which  he  had  been 
called,  is  thus  sketched  by  the  same  writer. 
'  "  If  God  has  no  need  of  human  learning,''^ 


JNVITED  TO  INDIA. 


91 


retorted  South  on  the  Puritans  of  his  day, 
"  still  less  has  he  need  of  human  ignorance:''^ 
and  too  truly  has  this  been  seen  in  much  of 
the  history  of  the  attempts  to  Christianise  the 
East.  A  sanguine  spirit  has  gone  forth  thith- 
er, expecting  ends  without  means — hailing  the 
most  equivocal  symptoms  as  infallible  signs  of 
conversion — prompting  replies  to  the  listless 
heathen,  and  then  recording  those  parrot- 
words  as  spontaneous  tokens  of  grace.  To 
every  sentence  which  one  of  the  missionaries 
addressed  to  a  man  before  him,  covered  with 
cow-dung,  he  received  as  an  answer,  "  Ni- 
sam!"  (most  certain!)  pronounced  with  great 
gravity,  and  accompanied  by  a  sober  nod  of 
the  head.  "  I  was  much  cheered,"  says  the 
worthy  teacher,  "  by  his  approving  so  cordial- 
ly the  doctrines  of  salvation:" — and  if  here 
the  questions  had  ended,  this  man  would  have 
had  as  good  right  to  be  enrolled  amongst  the 
lists  of  converted  heathens  as  many  more; 
but,  unluckily,  it  was  further  asked,  "  How 
old  are  you?"  "How  long  have  you  been 
Sunyasee.'" — to  which  he  rephed,  with  the 
same  emphasis  as  before,  "NisamI  Nisam!" 
The  missionary  should  ever  be  on  his  guard 


92 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


against  exciting  the  suspicions  of  the  people 
of  England  that  his  work  is  hollow  and  un- 
sound,— he  should  be  slow  to  claim  conquests 
which  cool-headed  men  at  home  may  think 
his  desultory  mode  of  warfare  not  likely  to 
achieve.  The  people  of  England  are  not  ig- 
norant of  the  boasts  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
teachers  in  the  same  field;  as  many  as  they 
could  baptize  (and  in  some  countries  they  are 
said  to  have  made  short  work  of  it,  by  swing- 
ing a  besom)  were  registered  as  converts,  and 
reported  as  living  proofs  of  their  amazing  suc- 
cess. And  we  all  know  what  has  been  the 
consequence.  Of  late  years,  however,  and 
especially  amongst  the  Protestant  missions  of 
our  own  church,  far  greater  caution  has  been 
observed;  and  now  (except,  perhaps,  in  a  few 
instances  where  the  native  catechists  recom- 
mend to  the  missionaries  candidates  for  bap- 
tism, for  whose  competency  they  are  them- 
selves the  vouchers)  a  degree  of  hesitation  is 
felt  about  admitting  to  this  rite,  that  some  may 
think,  and  perhaps  justly  think,  more  than 
even  prudence  demands.  That  error,  how- 
ever, if  error  it  be,  is  on  the  right  side. 

'  Already,  by  all  who  do  not  wish  to  be  blind, 


RELIGIOUS  STATE  OF  INDIA. 


93 


some  symptoms  of  progress  may  be  traced. 
Till  within  these  few  years,  the  reluctance  of 
the  Brahmins  to  communicate  the  contents  of 
their  sacred  books  was  insuperable;  now  eve- 
ry European,  who  has  the  curiosity,  is  per- 
mitted to  look  into  those  mysteries,  and  ac- 
quaint himself  with  what  a  Hindoo  professes, 
which  will  often  furnish  not  the  worst  argu- 
ments against  what  he  practises.  Martyn 
durst  not  introduce  into  his  schools  his  version 
of  the  parables,  and  acquiesced,  of  necessity, 
in  the  use  of  a  Hindoo  poem  on  an  avatar  of 
Vishnu,  which  had  no  other  merit  than  that  of 
being  unintelligible  to  the  children:  but  at  this 
day  the  Gospels  are  freely  read,  as  far  as  the 
teachers  think  fit  to  impart  them;  boys  of  all 
ranks,  from  the  Brahmin  to  the  Soodra,  are 
assembled  together,  under  the  same  roof;  and 
places  are  won  and  lost  in  the  classes  without 
any  reference  to  caste  or  colour.  When  one 
of  the  church  missionaries  was  first  appointed 
to  the  school  at  Burdwan,  not  a  boy  would 
consent  to  abide  on  the  same  premises  with 
him;  by  degrees  they  were  induced  to  become 
more  familiar — at  length  to  attend  worship — 
and  at  last  (except  during  the  holidays)  to  re- 


94 


BISHOF  HEBER. 


main  with  him  altogether.  At  Badagamme, 
in  Ceylon,  we  are  told  that  the  children  of 
different  castes  may  be  seen  seated  on  mats, 
eating  and  drinking  together,  with  the  utmost 
apparent  good-will; — a  novel  spectacle,  even 
in  that  island  of  promise.  It  is  not  more  than 
five  or  six  years  ago  since  the  project  for  ed- 
ucating females  in  India  was  reckoned  hope- 
less; now,  upwards  of  thirty  girls'  schools  are 
in  activity  at  Calcutta  alone.  At  Mirzapore, 
where  a  chapel  has  been  established  for  Ben- 
galee preaching,  the  congregation  changes 
several  times  perhaps  during  a  sermon,  as  the 
curiosity  or  patience  of  the  hearers  becomes 
exhausted;  nor  is  it  a  symptom  of  small  im- 
portance that,  whilst  few  old  people  are  ob- 
served there,  the  young  are  always  to  be  found 
in  considerable  numbers.  We  are  told  by 
Colonel  Phipps,  (who  resided  several  months 
near  Juggernaut,  and  was  present  at  the  great 
annual  festival,)  that  the  practice  which  but 
recently  prevailed,  of  enticing  pilgrims  to  cast 
themselves  under  the  wheels  of  the  car,  has 
now  ceased;  that  the  disgusting  images  with 
which  it  was  decorated  have  been  removed, 
and  that  the  outer  walls  of  the  temple  are 


RELIGIOUS  STATE  OF  INDIA. 


95 


purged  of  the  like  emblems  of  impurity. 
"  Where  there  is  shame,"  says  Johnson, 
"  there  may  in  time  be  virtue." 

'  Caste  is  undoubtedly  the  great  obstacle  to 
the  conversion  of  the  East,  but  it  is  not  an 
insurmountable  obstacle.  It  existed,  with 
many  other  Indian  peculiarities  of  the  present 
day,  before  the  age  of  Arrian;  yet  Christiani- 
ty made  its  way  on  the  coast  of  Malabar  in 
spite  of  it.  Certain  it  is,  also,  that  many  na- 
tives in  our  own  times  have  actually  courted 
baptism,  and  thereby  broken  caste,  even  where 
the  caste  was  honourable;  and  that  more  have 
been  prevented  from  taking  the  same  step,  by 
the  importunate  entreaties  of  parents  and 
friends,  seconded,  in  some  cases,  by  the  dis- 
interested recommendations  of  the  missiona- 
ries themselves.  It  is  not,  indeed,  by  any 
measure  which  "  cometh  of  observation"  that 
a  death-blow  can  be  dealt  to  this  deep-rooted 
institution;  but  time  and  Christianity  will  do 
the  work  in  peace.  Thus  it  is  that  slavery, 
in  almost  all  Christian  countries,  has  disap- 
peared, no  man  knowing  when  or  how — not 
by  the  triumphant  issue  of  a  servile  war,  not 
by  any  sudden  measures  of  legislatorial  eman- 


96 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


cipation, — l)ut  through  the  operatio'n  of  the 
eternal  laws  of  social  progress  fixed  by  Pro- 
vidence, and  especially,  as  we  cannot  but  be- 
lieve, by  the  slow  yet  sure  operation  of  that 
very  principle  which  is  now  beginning  to  work 
in  India.  Thus  it  is  that  witchcraft,  which  so 
few  generations  back  held  firm  possession  of 
the  faith  of  our  forefathers,  and  against  which 
even  the  lofty  mind  of  a  Sir  Matthew  Hale 
was  not  proof,  has  been  quietly  laid  to  sleep. 
What  prejudice  of  caste  could  be  stronger 
than  the  principle  of  religious  intolerance  in 
our  own  country  three  centuries  ago,  when 
even  Cranmer  could  sully  his  fair  fame  by 
one  miserable,  though,  no  doubt,  most  con- 
scientious compliance  with  it;  and  what  is, 
perhaps,  more  remarkable,  when,  in  a  subse- 
quent age,  and  afler  the  tempest  of  the  refor- 
mation had  well  nigh  subsided,  even  the  amia- 
ble Bishop  Jewell  could  breathe  the  temper 
which  spake  in  James  and  John  at  the  Sama- 
ritan village,  in  one  solitary  sentence  of  his 
immortal  Apology?  But  years  rolled  on,  and 
the  better  spirit  was  silently  prevailing. 
Through  Hooker,  who  now  appeared,  its  ad- 
vance may  be  traced;   though  his  writings 


CHURCH  m  INDIA. 


97 


(which,  however,  are  of  a  defensive  rather 
than  an  aggressive  character)  occasionally 
deal  out  blows  against  the  captious  adversa- 
ries of  the  church  which  he  revered,  with  an 
asperity  savouring  more  of  the  times  than  the 
man,  yet  never  would  they  deliver  over  an  he- 
retical offender  to  the  secular  arm;  and,  in 
the  next  century,  toleration  was  openly  and 
professedly  abetted  in  a  work,  which,  as  it 
was  the  first,  so  it  remains  the  ablest,  vindi- 
cation of  the  cause — "  The  Liberty  of  Proph- 
esying."— With  these  and  many  more  such 
instances  before  us,  we  cannot  but  look  for- 

•  ward  to  the  time  when  Brahmin  and  Soodra 
shall  have  the  relation  to  each  other  of  gen- 
tleman and  peasant,  and  no  other — and  this 
the  more  confidently,  because  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that  caste  is  as  much  a  civil 
as  a  religious  institution, — as  much  founded 
upon  convenience  as  upon  conscience. 

'  Such  a  consummation  the  establishment  of 
a  national  church  among  our  own  countrymen 

•  scattered  over  India  was  eminently  calculated 
to  advance  ;  and  in  selecting  the  founder  of 
that  church,  (a  matter  of  no  small  importance 
to  its  future  fortunes,)  a  most  sound  judgment 

9 


98 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


was  exercised.  The  hints  for  his  conduct  in 
India,  which  Dr.  Middleton  committed  to 
writing  whilst  on  ship-board,  and  which  are 
given  in  Archdeacon  Bonney's  Life  of  him, 
are  worthy  of  all  praise  ;  and  to  that  spirit  of 
piety  which  influei^ced  him,  both  in  the  accept- 
ance and  discharge  of  his  high  functions,  were 
added,  talents  for  business,  and  a  practical 
wisdom,  which  enabled  him  to  struggle  with 
difficulties  that  would  have  overwhelmed  a 
mind  of  a  different  construction,  and  to  devise 
measures  and  regulations  of  ecclesiastical  po- 
lity for  the  infant  church,  under  which,  by 
God's  blessing,  it  will  for  ever  prosper..  Still 
his  firmness  (and  few  mep  had  more)  was  not 
unfrequently  put  to  the  proof  The  appoint- 
ment of  a  bishop  at  all  was  considered  by 
many  a  dangerous  experiment  ;  and  perhaps 
a  jealousy  of  investing  him  with  too  ample 
powers  was  the  natural  consequence.  It  must, 
for  example,  have  been  vain  to  expect  that  a 
knowledge  of  Christianity  should  be  diffused 
on  any  great  scale,  without  the  liberal  help  of 
native  preachers,  over  such  a  country  as  India 
— more  especially  when  the  civil  government 
cannot,  for  obvious  reasons,  give  more  than 


CHURCH  IN  INDIA. 


99 


their  best  wishes  to  tlie  work.  The  history 
of  our  own  Reformation  (were  not  the  reason 
of  the  thing  enough)  might  have  estabHshed 
this  truth  ;  and  whilst  Wales,  and  the  Norman 
Isles,  where  the  new  doctrines  were  taught  by 
ministers  of  their  own,  became  speedy  and  sin- 
cere converts  to  those  doctrines,  Ireland, 
which  was  visited  by  English  instructors  only, 
— men  whose  speech  was  strange  and  offensive 
to  the  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants, — never 
was  made  fully  acquainted  with  the  reformed 
faith  ;  and  so,  that  critical  day  being  suffered 
to  pass  unimproved,  has  entailed  upon  the 
sister-kingdoms,  in  our  own  times,  a  melan- 
choly division  of  heart.  The  privilege,  never- 
theless, of  ordaining  native  Christians  was 
withheld  from  Dr.  Middleton  ;  and  though  he 
subsequently  sued  for  it  under  restrictions,  it 
was  still  denied  to  him.  On  trial,  however,  it 
was  found  that  a  bishop  had  not  been  nearly  so 
mischievous  as  had  been  apprehended.  No 
rebellion  had  followed  his  appointment  ;  the 
rupees  had  continued  to  drop  as  fast  as  before 
into  the  Company's  treasury :  and  accordingly, 
one  of  the  first  acts  of  Dr.  Middleton's  suc- 
cessor was  to  ordain  a  native  Christian.  Nor 


100 


BISHOP  HEBER 


was  this  the  only  thorn  in  the  side  of  our  first 
Indian  bishop.  It  may  be  gathered  from  his 
two  latter  charges,  how  much  he  suffered  from 
the  divisions  which  he  saw  amongst  the  peo- 
ple, and  that  the  want  of  unity  in  church  doc- 
trine and  discipline  afforded  him  a  subject  of 
severe  mortification — of  mortification  propor- 
tioned to  the  strength  of  his  reasonable  con- 
viction that  every  departure  from  the  tenets  of 
the  church  of  England  was  a  departure  from 
sound  faith  and  primitive  practice.  Baptists, 
Independents,  Wesleyan  Methodists  and  Pres- 
byterians were  all  struggling  for  precedence  ; 
and  the  poor  heathen  lookers-on  might  well  be 
perplexed  with  unnecessary  difficulties  when 
they  perceived  that  the  Christian  doctors  them- 
selves agreed  in  nothing  but  in  mutual  accu- 
sations of  error.  Having  borne  up,  however, 
against  these  difficulties  as  few  men  could 
have  done  ;  and  having  wielded  the  powers  of 
a  bishop  for  nearly  nine  years,  with  a  wisdom 
that  has  procured  for  him  the  admiration  of  all 
lovers  of  our  church,  this  excellent  man  was 
gathered  to  his  fathers,  and  succeeded  by  Re- 
ginald Heber  :' — (on  whom,  at  the  same  pe- 
riod, the  University  of  Oxford  conferred  the 
degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity  by  diploma.) 


SUCCEEDS  BISHOP  MIDDLETON.  101 


'  I  can  say  with  confidence,'  writes  he  about 
this  time,  '  that  I  have  acted  for  the  best  ;  and 
even  now  that  the  die  is  cast,  I  feel  no  regret 
for  the  resoUition  I  have  taken,  nor  any  dis- 
trust of  the  mercies  and  goodness  of  Provi- 
dence, who  may  protect  both  me  and  mine, 
and,  if  He  sees  best  for  us,  bring  us  back 
again,  and  preserve  our  excellent  friends  to 
welcome  us.  For  England,  and  the  scenes  of 
my  earliest  and  dearest  recollections,  I  know 
no  better  farewell  than  that  of  Philoctetes  : — • 

Aui'ftutf      TxuT  £jreKfoeii£>."  ' 

Yet  a  far  better  farewell  than  this  was  his 
own  ;  for  having  returned  to  Hodnet  for  a  few 
weeks  to  settle  his  affairs  before  his  final  de- 
parture, on  Sunday,  20th  of  April,  1823,  he 
preached  his  last  sermon  there,  the  effect  of 
which  those  who  read  it  may  partly  conjecture 
— those  who  heard  it  (we  are  told)  will  never 
forget.  It  was  printed  at  the  earnest  request 
of  the  congregation,  and  as  the  copies  wero 
9* 


102 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


few,  and  the  circulation  local,  it  may  not  pro- 
bably have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  many  of 
our  readers  :  we  take  advantage,  therefore,  of 
a  second  edition  which  has  just  been  publish- 
ed, to  introduce  a-  passage  or  two  from  it  to 
their  notice.  Having  spoken  in  general  of  the 
vanity  of  fixing  the  affections  on  a  world  where 
every  thing  is  fleeting,  to  the  neglect  of  that 
Being  who  alone  is  for  ever  the  same,  he  pro- 
ceeds— 

'  My  ministerial  labours  among  you  must 
have  an  end  :  I  must  give  over  into  other 
hands  the  task  of  watching  over  your  spiritual 
welfare  ;  and  many,  very  many,  of  those  with 
whom  I  have  grown  up  from  childhood,  in 
whose  society  I  have  passed  my  happiest  days, 
and  to  whom  it  has  been,  during  more  than 
fifteen  years,  my  duty  and  my  delight  (with 
such  ability  as  God  has  given  me)  to  preach 
the  gospel  of  Christ,  must,  in  all  probability, 
see  my  face  in  the  flesh  no  more.  Under  such 
circumstances,  and  connected  with  njany  who 
now  hear  me  by  the  dearest  ties  of  blood,  of 
friendship,  and  of  gratitude,  some  mixture  of 
regret  is  excusable,  some  degree  of  sorrow  is 
holy.    I  cannot,  without  some  anxiety  for  the 


FAREWELL  SERMON  AT  HODNET.  103 


future,  forsake,  for  an  untried  and  arduous 
field  of  duty,  the  quiet  scenes  where,  during  so 
much  of  my  past  life,  I  have  enjoyed  a  more 
than  usual  share  of  earthly  comfort  and  pros- 
perity ;  I  cannot  bid  adieu  to  those,  with  whose 
idea  almost  every  recollection  of  past  happi- 
ness is  connected,  without  many  earnest  wishes 
for  their  welfare,  and  (I  will  confess  it)  with- 
out some  severe  self-reproach  that,  while  it 
was  in  my  power,  I  have  done  so  much  less 
than  I  ought  to  have  done,  to  render  that  wel- 
fare eternal.    There  are,  indeed,  those  here 
who  know,  and  there  is  One,  above  all,  who 
knows  better  than  any  of  you,  how  earnestly 
I  have  desired  the  .peace  and  the  holiness  of 
His  church  ;  how  truly  I  have  loved  the  peo- 
ple of  this  place  ;  and  how  warmly  I  have 
hoped  to  be  the  means,  in  his  hand,  of  bring- 
ing many  among  you  to  glory.    But  I  am  at 
this  moment  but  too  painfully  sensible  that  in 
many  things,  yea  in  all,  my  performance  has 
fallen  short  of  my  principles  ;  that  neither  pri- 
vately nor  publicly  have  I  taught  you  with  so 
much  diligence  as  now  seems  necessary  in  my 
eyes  :  nor  has  my  example  set  forth  the  doc- 
trines in  which  I  have,  however  imperfectly, 


104 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


instructed  you  ;  yet,  if  my  zeal  has  failed  in 
steadiness,  it  never  has  been  wanting  in  sin- 
cerity. I  have  expressed  no  conviction  which 
I  have  not  deeply  felt  ;  have  preached  no  doc- 
trine which  1  have  not  steadfastly  believed  : 
however  inconsistent  my  life,  its  leading  object 
has  been  your  welfare  ;  and  I  have  hoped, 
and  sorrowed,  and  studied  and  prayed  for 
your  instruction,  and  that  you  might  be  saved. 
For  my  labours,  such  as  they  were,  I  have 
been  indeed  most  richly  rewarded,  in  the  uni- 
form affection  and  respect  which  I  have  re- 
ceived from  my  parishoners  ;  in  their  regular 
and  increasing  attendance  in  this  holy  place, 
and  at  the  table  of  the  Lord  ;  in  the  welcome 
which  I  have  never  failed  to  meet  in  the  houses 
both  of  rich  and  poor  ;  in  the  regret  (beyond 
my  deserts,  and  beyond  my  fullest  expecta- 
tions) M  ith  which  my  announced  departure  has 
been  received  by  you  ;  in  your  expressed  and 
repeated  wishes  for  my  welfare  and  my  return  ; 
in  the  munificent  token  of  yom-  regard,  with 
which  I  have  been  this  morning  honoured  ;* 

*  A  piere  of  plate  bad  been  given  lo  Mr.  Heber  by  hia 
parisbioneis 


FAREWELL  SERMON  AT  HODNET.  105 


in  your  nuirierous  attendance  on  the  present 
occasion,  and  in  those  marks  of  emotion  which 
I  witness  around  me,  and  in  which  I  am  my- 
self well  nigh  constrained  to  join.  For  all 
these,  accept  such  thanks  as  I  can  pay — ac- 
cept my  best  wishes — accept  my  affectionate 
regrets — accept  the  continuance  of  the  prayers 
which  I  have  hitherto  offered  up  for  you  daily, 
and  in  which,  whatever  and  wherever  my 
sphere  of  duty  may  hereafter  be,  my  congre- 
gation of  Hodnet  shall  (believe  it  !)  never  be 
forgotten.' 

He  then  exhorts  them,  by  various  consider- 
ations, to  mutual  charity  and  good  will;  and 
continues  in  words  which  (long  as  our  extract 
has  already  been)  we  know  not  how  to  with- 
hold— 

'  Would  to  God,  indeed,  I  could  hope  to 
leave  you  all  as  truly  at  peace  with  each  otlier, 
as  I  trust  and  believe  there  is  peace  between 
me  and  you!  Yet  if  there  be  any  here  whom 
I  have  at  any  time  offended,  let  me  entreat  his 
forgiveness,  and  express  the  hope  that  he  has 
already  forgiven  me.  If  any  who  thinks  he 
has  done  me  wrong  (I  know  of  none,)  let  him 
be  assured  that  the  fault,  if  it  were  one,  is  not 


106        FAREWELL  SERMO.V  AT  HODNET. 


only  forgiven,  but  forgotten;  and  let  me  earn- 
estly entreat  you  all,  as  it  may  be  the  last  re- 
quest which  I  shall  ever  make,  the  last  advice 
which  I  shall  ever  offer  to  you — little  children, 
love  one  another  and  forgive  one  another,  even 
as  God,  for  Christ's  sake,  hath  loved  and  for- 
given you.' 

Having  thus  taken  leave  of  a  parish  where 
he  still  signified  a  hope  that  he  might  lay  his 
bones,  he  hastened  again  to  town  to  receive 
imposition  of  hands,  and  then  depart — 

'  My  consecration  (he  writes  to  a  friend  in 
the  country)  is  fixed  for  next  Sunday;  and  as 
the  time  draws  near,  I  feel  its  awfulness  very 
strongly — far  more,  I  think,  than  the  parting 
which  is  to  follow  a  fortnight  after.  I  could 
wish  (he  adds)  to  have  the  prayers  of  my  old 
congregation,  but  know  not  well  how  to  ex- 
press the  wish  in  conformity  with  custom,  or 
without  seeming  to  court  notoriety.' 

A  special  general  meeting  of  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledge  was  now  call- 
ed, and  a  valedictory  address  to  him,  pro- 
nounced, in  the  name  of  that  venerable  body, 
by  the  Bishop  of  Bristol;  an  address  only  yield- 
ing in  beauty  (if  it  does  yield)  to  the  reply 


CONSECRATED. 


107 


which  it  produced — the  one  dignified,  impres- 
sive, affectionate — the  other  glowing  with  all 
the  natural  eloquence  of  excited  feelings. 

'  3Iy  Lord,'  said  the  excellent  Bishop  of 
Bristol,  '  The  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge  desire  to  offer  to  your  Lordship 
their  sincere  congratulations  upon  your  eleva- 
tion to  the  Episcopal  See  of  Calcutta. 

'  They  derive  from  your  appointment  to  this 
high  office  the  certain  assurance,  that  all  the 
advantages  which  they  have  anticipated  from 
the  formation  of  a  Church  establishment  in 
India,  will  be  realized;  and  that  the  various 
plans  for  the  diffusion  of  true  religion  among  its 
inhabitants,  which  have  been  so  wisely  laid,  and 
so  auspiciously  commenced  by  your  lamented 
predecessor,  will,  under  your  superintendence 
and  control,  advance  with  a  steady  and  unin- 
terrupted progress.  They  ground  this  assur- 
ance upon  the  rare  union  of  intellectual  and 
moral  qualities  which  combine  to  form  your 
character.  They  ground  it  upon  the  steadfast- 
ness of  purpose  with  which,  from  the  period  of 
your  admission  into  the  ministry,  you  have  ex- 
clusively dedicated  your  time  and  talents  to 
the  peculiar  studies  of  your  sacred  professioa; 


108 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


I 


abandoning  that  human  learning  in  which  you 
had  already  shown  that  you  were  capable  of 
attaining  the  highest  excellence,  and  renounc- 
ing the  certain  prospect  of  literary  fame.  But, 
above  all,  they  ground  this  assurance  upon  the 
signal  proof  of  self-devotion  which  you  have 
given  by  your  acceptance  of  the  episcopal  of- 
fice. With  respect  to  any  other  individual, 
who  had  been  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Church 
Establishment  in  India,  a  suspicion  might  have 
been  entertained  that  some  worldly  desire, 
some  feeling  of  ambition,  mingled  itself  with 
the  motives  by  which  he  was  actuated;  but, 
in  your  case,  such  a  suspicion  would  be  desti- 
tute even  of  the  semblance  of  truth:  every  en- 
joyment which  a  well-regulated  mind  can  de- 
rive from  the  possession  of  wealth,  was  placed 
within  your  reach;  every  avenue  to  profes- 
sional distinction  and  dignity,  if  these  had  been 
the  objects  of  your  solicitude,  lay  open  before 
you.  What  then  was  the  motive  which  could 
incline  you  to  quit  your  native  land  ? — to  ex- 
change the  delights  of  home  for  a  tedious 
voyage  to  distant  regions  ? — to  separate  your- 
self from  the  friends  with  whom  you  had  con- 
versed from  your  earliest  years.'    What,  but 


EMBARKS  FOR  INDIA. 


109 


an  ardent  wish  to  become  the  instrument  of 
good  to  others — a  holy  zeal  in  your  Master's 
service — a  firm  persuasion  that  it  was  your 
boiMiden  duty  to  submit  yourself  unreservedly 
to  his  disposal i  to  shrink  from  no  labour  which 
he  might  impose,  to  count  no  sacrifice  hard 
whicli  he  might  requii'e?' 

In  his  reply  the  Bishop  expressed  '  the  set- 
tled purpose  of  his  soul,'  to  devote  his  best 
talents  '  to  the  great  cause  in  which  all  their 
hearts  were  engaged,  and  for  which  it  was  not 
their  duty  only,  but  their  illustrious  privilege 
to  labour,'  and  that  he  looked  forward  with 
pleasure  to  '  the  time  when  he  should  be  ena- 
bled to  preach  to  the  natives  of  India  in  their 
own  language.' 

'On  Monday,  16th  June,  1823,'  (says  the 
writer  previously  quoted)  '  Dr.  Heber  embark- 
ed with  his  family  a  little  below  Gravesend, 
and,  accompanied  to  the  ship  by  many  sorrow- 
ing fiiends,  bade  adieu  to  England  for  ever. 
Well  it  is  that  every  great  event  in  life,  which 
does  violence  to  the  feelings,  usually  brings 
with  it  immediate  demands  upon  our  exertions, 
whereby  the  attention  is  diverted,  and  the  grief 
subdued.  On  ship-board  he  found  abundant 
10 


110 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


occupation  in  prosecuting  the  study  of  Hindos- 
tanee  and  Persian,  which,  independently  of 
their  prospective  usefulness,  he,  as  many  others 
had  done  before  him,  found  to  be  possessed  of 
high  interest  and  curiosity, — "  as  establishing 
beyond  all  doubt  the  original  connection  of  the 
languages  of  India,  Persia,  and  Northern  Eu- 
rope, and  the  complete  diversity  of  these  from 
the  Hebrew  and  other  Semitic  IcUiguages. 
Those  (he  observes)  who  fancy  the  Persians 
and  Indians  to  have  been  derived  from  Elam, 
the  son  of  Shem,  or  from  any  body  but  Ja- 
pheth,  the  first-born  of  Noah,  and  father  of 
Gomer,  Meshech,  and  Tubal,  have,  I  am  per- 
suaded, paid  no  attention  to  the  languages 
either  of  Persia,  Russia,  or  Scandinavia.  I 
have  long  had  this  suspicion,  and  am  not  sorry 
to  find  it  confirmed  by  even  the  grammar  of 
my  new  studies.  If,  in  a  year  or  two,  (he  ex- 
ultingly  adds,)  I  do  not  know  them  both  (Hin- 
dostanee  and  Persian)  at  least  as  well  as  I  do 
French  and  Gei-man,  the  fault,  I  trust,  will  be 
in  my  capacity,  not  in  my  diligence." 

'  One  of  his  first  thoughts  after  the  ship  had 
sailed,  was  to  propose  daily  evening  prayers, 
and  he  was  gratified  at  the  readiness  with  which 


VOVAGE  TO  INDIA. 


Ill 


the  captain  assented  to  the  proposal.  He  ac- 
cordingly officiated  as  chaplain  to  the  ship, 
reading  prayers  in  the  cuddy  daily  during  the 
voyage.  He  read  prayers  and  preached  regu- 
larly once  on  each  Sunday;  and  on  one  occa- 
sion, having  on  the  previous  Sunday  discoursed 
to  the  passengers  and  crew,  in  the  way  of  pre- 
paration, he  administered  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and  was  highly  pleased;  having  been  told  to 
expect  only  one  or  two,  that  he  had  twenty-six 
or  twenty-seven  participants;  and  his  gratifi- 
cation was  much  increased  when  he  observed 
in  the  course  of  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
that  "  all  the  young  men  who  had  participated, 
had  religious  books  in  their  hands,  and  that 
they  appeared,  indeed,  much  impressed." 

'  The  following  incidents  are  extracted  from 
his  journal  of  the  voyage  as  tending  to  show 
the  character  of  his  feelings  at  this  interesting 
crisis.  A  few  days  after  they  had  left  land, 
a  vessel  passed  the  ship  homeward  bound.  On 
this  event  he  remarks,  "  my  wife's  eyes  swam 
with  tears  as  this  vessel  passed  us,  and  there 
were  one  or  two  of  the  young  men  who  looked 
wishfully  after  her.  For  my  own  part,  I  am 
well  convinced  all  my  firmness  would  go,  if  I 


112 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


allowed  myself  to  look  back,  even  for  a  mo- 
ment.   Yet,  as  I  did  not  leave  home  and  its 
blessings  without  counting  the  cost,  I  do  not, 
and  I  trust  in  God,  that  I  shall  not,  regret 
the  choice  I  have  made.    But  knowing  how 
much  others  have  given  up  for  my  sake,  should 
make  me  more  studious  to  make  the  loss  less 
to  them;  and  also,  and  above  all,  so  to  dis- 
charge my  duty,  as  that  they  may  never  think 
that  these  sacrifices  have  been  made  in  vain." 
Again;  about  a  month  after  his  departure,  he 
■vvrites — "  How  little  did  I  dream  at  this  time 
last  year,  that  I  should  ever  be  in  my  present 
situation!    How  strange  it  now  seems  to  me 
to  recollect  the  interest  which  I  used  to  take  in 
all  which  related  to  southern  seas  and  distant 
regions,  to  India  and  its  oceans,  to  Australasia 
and  Polynesia!    I  used  to  fancy  I  should  like 
to  visit  them,  but  that  I  ever  should,  or  could 
do  so,  never  occurred  to  me.    Now,  that  I 
shall  see  many  of  tlie.=;e  countries,  if  life  is 
spared  to  me,  is  not  improbable.    God  grant 
that  my  conduct  in  the  scenes  to  which  he  has 
appointed  me  may  be  such  as  to  conduce  to  his 
glory,  and  to  my  own  salvation  through  his 
Son."    Such  was  the  spirit  in  which  this  holy 


VOYAGE  TO  INDIA. 


113 


man  denied  himself,  took  up  his  crofes  and  fol- 
lowed Christ.' 

'  "  August  18. — The  same  breeze,  which  has 
now  increased  to  what  seamen  call  a  strong 
gale,  with  a  high  rolling  sea  from  the  south- 
west. Both  yesterday  and  to-day  we  have  had 
the  opportunity  of  seeing  no  insufficient  speci- 
men of  those  gigantic  waves  of  which  I  have 
often  heard  as  prevailing  in  these  latitudes.  In 
a  weaker  vessel,  and  with  less  confidence  in 
our  officers  and  crew,  they  would  be  alarming 
as  well  as  awful  and  sublime.  But,  in  our 
case,  seen  as  they  are  from  a  strong  and  well- 
found  ship,  in  fine  clear  weather,  and  with  good 
sea  room,  they  constitute  a  magnificent  spec- 
tacle, which  may  be  contemplated  with  un- 
mixed pleasure.  I  have  hardly  been  able  to 
leave  the  deck,  so  much  have  I  enjoyed  it,  and 
my  wife,  who  happily  now  feels  very  little  in- 
convenience from  the  motion,  has  expressed 
the  same  feelings.  The  deep  blue  of  the  sea, 
the  snow-white  tops  of  the  waves,  their  enor- 
mous sweep,  the  alternate  sinking  and  rising  of 
the  ship,  which  seems  like  a  plaything  in  a 
giant's  hands,  and  the  vast  multitude  of  sea- 
birds  skimming  round  us,  constitute  a  picture 
of  the  most  exhilerating,  as  well  as  the  most 
10* 


114 


BISHOP  KEBER. 


impressive  character;  and  I  trust  abetter  and 
holier  feeling  has  not  been  absent  from  our 
minds,  of  thankfulness  to  Him  who  had  thus 
far  protected  us,  who  blesses  us  daily  with  so 
many  comforts  beyond  what  might  be  expected 
in  our  present  situation,  and  who  has  given  us 
a  passage,  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the 
Atlantic,  so  unusually  rapid  and  favourable. 

"September  18. — This  evening  we  had  a 
most  beautiful  sunset — the  most  remarkable 
recollected  by  any  of  the  officers  or  passengers, 
and  I  think  the  most  magnificent  spectacle  I 
ever  saw.  Besides  the  usual  beautiful  tints  of 
crimson,  fiame-colour,  &c.,  which  the  clouds 
displayed, and  which  were  strangely  contrasted 
with  the  deep  blue  of  the  sea,  and  the  lighter, 
but  equally  beautiful  blue  of  the  sky,  there 
were  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
(linking  sun,  and  for  some  time  after  his  disc 
had  disappeared,  large  tracts  of  a  pale  trans- 
lucent green,  such  as  I  had  never  seen  before 
except  in  a  prism,  and  surpassing  every  effect 
of  paint,  or  glass,  or  gem.  Every  body  on 
board  was  touched  and  awed  by  the  glory  of 
the  scene,  and  many  observed,  that  such  a 
spectacle  alone  was  v.  orth  the  whole  voyage 


VOYAGE   TO  INDIA. 


from  England.  One  circumstance  in  the  scene 
struck  me  as  different  from  all  which  I  had 
been  led  to  e.xpect  in  a  tropical  sunset.  I 
mean,  that  its  progress  from  light  to  darkness 
was  much  more  gradual  than  most  travellers 
and  philosophers  have  stated.  The  dip  of  the 
sun  did  not  seem  more  rapid,  nor  did  the  dura- 
tion of  the  tints  on  the  horizon  appear  mate- 
rially less  than  on  similar  occasions  in  England. 
Neither  did  I  notice  any  striking  difference  in 
the  continuance  of  the  twilight.  I  pointed  out 
the  fact  to  JNlajor  Sackville,  who  answered  that 
he  had  long  been  convinced  that  the  supposed 
rapidity  of  sunrise  and  sunset  in  India  had  been 
exaggerated, — that  he  had  always  found  a  good 
hour  between  dawn  and  sunrise,  and  little  less 
between  sunset  and  total  darkness."  ' 


116 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

India — Arrival  in  Calcutta — First  Visitation. 

'  In  October,  1823,'  (says  one  of  his  friends) 
'  Heber  landed  in  India,  with  a  field  before 
him  that  might  challenge  the  labours  of  an 
apostle,  and  we  will  venture  to  say,  with  as 
much  of  the  spirit  of  an  apostle  in  him  as  has 
rested  on  any  man  in  these  latter  days.  It 
was  now  his  anxious  wish  to  compose,  as  far 
as  in  him  lay,  those  unhappy  religious  dissen- 
tions  of  which  we  have  already  spoken  ;  and, 
without  making  any  concession  unbecoming  a 
loyal  and  true  lover  of  his  own  church,  to  set 
forth  the  necessity  of  humility  and  charity. 
Christian  graces  to  which  schism  is  so  com- 
monly fatal — and  without  which  even  the  purest 
speculative  opinions,  can,  after  all,  be  worth 
nothing.  For  such  a  task  as  this,  none  who 
0  knew  Dr.  Heber  at  all,  could  deny  that  he 
was  singularly  well  fitted.  In  a  personal  re- 
gard for  himself,  he  was  sure  to  bow  the  hearts 
of  the  people  as  the  heart  of  one  man.    Is  it 


ARRIVES   IS  tXDIA. 


117 


not  according  to  our  experience  to  believe, 
that  the  affections  might  have  influenced  tho 
conclusions  of  the  understanding,  and  that  by 
his  means  many  angry  disputants  might  have 
been  brought  to  think  alike,  and  to  think  as  our 
church  directs  them  ?  With  a  further  view  to 
more  general  conformity,  he,  after  a  while, 
suggested  to  the  Society  for  Promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowledge  the  propriety  of  sending  out 
(^if  possible)  missionaries  episcopally  ordained, 
in  order  so  far  to  obviate  an  unfavourable  im- 
pression produced  on  the  natives,  who  were  at 
a  loss  what  character  to  assign  to  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  whom  those  who  supported  and 
dispersed  them  were  unwilling  to  admit  to  their 
own  churches.  Nor  did  he  think  such  a  mea- 
sure unlikely  to  promote  the  influence  of  the 
Church  of  England  (already  very  considera- 
ble) with  the  different  stocks  of  oriental  Chris- 
tians— Greeks,  Armenians  and  Syrians — who 
hold,  like  her,  episcopacy  to  be  of  apostolic  in- 
etitution.  In  accordance  with  these  senti- 
ments. Dr.  Heber  thought  fit  to  re-ordain  se- 
'veral  Protestant  ministers  who  made  an  ap- 
plication to  that  effect,  and  though  he  did  not 
urge  the  universal  adoption  of  such  a  plan,  yet 


118 


BISHOP  HEBER; 


he  did  not  conceal  his  opinion  that  it  was  much 
to  be  desired.  To  the  native  schools  he  gave 
his  utmost  protection  and  support;  interested  in 
their  behalf  those  whose  patronage  was  most 
valuable;  and  took  effectual  steps  for  render- 
ing the  bounty  of  his  countrymen  at  home  tri- 
butary to  the  same  good  end.  He  preached 
very  often:  it  never  had  been  his  practice  to 
spare  himself  when  in  England,  and  in  the 
east  he  felt  further  calls  in  the  more  pressing 
wants  of  the  people,  and  the  extreme  paucity 
of  the  clergy. 

'  Short  as  his  time  in  India  was,  his  visita- 
tions had  embraced  almost  the  whole  of  his 
vast  diocese.  To  the  northern  portion  of  it, 
which  Bishop  Middleton  (who  found  ample  oc- 
cupation at  Calcutta  and  in  southern  India) 
had  never  been  able  to  reach,  he  first  turned 
his  steps;  and  having  journeyed  as  far  as  Me- 
rut,  "  leaving  behind  him,"  says  Mr.  Fisher, 
the  chaplain  of  the  station,  "  an  impression 
which  I  think  will  not  soon  or  easily  pass 
away,"  he  bent  his  course  southwards,  and 
traversed  the  country  to  Bombay.' 

The  letters  and  journals  which  form  the  ma- 
terials of  the  subsequent  part  of  this  biography 


ARRIVAL  IN  INDIA. 


119 


have  already  obtained  a  classical  authority. 
On  their  merits  as  literary  compositions  we 
find  the  following  remarks:* 

'  Of  all  the  foreign  possessions  of  England, 
India  is,  we  think,  the  most  important;  as- 
suredly, it  is  the  most  interesting.  A  body  of 
our  countrymen  are  employed  there,  whose 
zeal,  talents,  and  accomplishments  are  beyond 
praise — a  set  of  functionaries,  civil  and  mili- 
tary, whose  general  deserts  have  not  been  sur- 
passed in  the  history  of  any  independent  state, 
ancient  or  modern;  while,  to  seek  for  any  pa- 
rallel example  in  colonial  annals,  would,  it  is 
admitted  on  all  hands,  be  vain  and  ridiculous. 
Literature  of  various  kinds  is  widely  and  pro- 
foundly cultivated  among  a  large  portion  of 
these  meritorious  officers,  during  their  stay  in 
the  East;  and  not  a  few  of  them  are  every 
year  returning  to  spend  the  afternoon  of  life, 
in  well-earned  competence  and  leisure,  in  their 
own  country.  Under  such  circumstances,  it  is 
impossible  not  to  reflect,  without  some  wonder, 
that  the  English  library  is  to  this  hour  ex- 
tremely poor  in  the  department  of  books  de- 


*  See  Qu.irterly  Review,  No.  LXXIII. 


120 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


scriptive  of  the  actual  appearances  of  men  and 
things  in  India;  of  the  scenery  of  regions  where 
almost  every  element  of  the  beautiful  and  the 
sublime  has  been  scattered  with  the  broadest 
lavishness  of  nature's  bounty;  of  cities,  on  the 
mere  face  of  which  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
of  all  human  histories  is  written,  through  all 
its  changes,  in  characters  that  he  who  runs 
may  read — where  the  monuments  of  Hindoo, 
Moslem,  and  English  art  and  magnificence 
may  be  contemplated  side  by  side;  of  manners, 
amongst  which  almost  every  possible  shape 
and  shade  of  human  civilization  finds  its  repre- 
sentative ;  where  we  may  trace  our  species,  step 
by  step,  as  in  one  living  panorama,  from  the 
lowest  depths  of  barbarian  and  pagan  darkness, 
up  to  the  highest  refinements  of  European  so- 
ciety, and  the  open  day-light  of  Protestant 
Christianity. 

'  This  poverty,  where  so  much  wealth  might 
have  been  expected,  is,  nevertheless,  easy 
enough  to  account  for.  The  great  majority  of 
our  Anglo-Indian  adventurers  leave  their  na- 
tive land  very  early  in  life,  and  become  accus- 
tomed to  Indian  scenery  and  manners  before 
the  mind  is  sufficiently  opened  and  calmed  for 


INDIA. 


121 


considering  them  duly.  Ere  such  men  begin 
to  think  of  describing  India,  they  have  lost  the 
European  eyes  on  which  its  picturesque  fea- 
tures stamp  the  most  vivid  impression.  When 
they  set  about  the  work,  they  do  pretty  much 
as  natives  of  the  region  might  be  expected  to 
do — that  is,  in  writing  for  people  at  home,  they 
omit,  as  too  obvious  and  familiar  to  be  worthy 
of  special  notice,  exactly  those  circumstances 
which,  if  they  could  place  themselves  in  the 
situation  of  their  readers,  they  would  find  it 
most  advantageous  to  dwell  upon.  They  give 
us  the  picture,  without  its  foreground — the 
scholia,  without  the  text.  The  literary  sin  that 
most  easily  besets  them  is  that  capital  error  of 
taking  for  granted. 

'  When  men  of  riper  years  and  experience 
repair  to  these  regions,  they  go  in  the  discharge 
of  important  functions,  which  commonly  con- 
fine the  field  of  personal  observation  to  narrow 
limits,  and  which  always  engross  so  much  time, 
that  it  is  no  wonder  they  should  abstain  from 
supererogatory  labour  of  any  sort.  Those  who 
under  such  circumstances  have  been  led  by 
extraordinary  elasticity  of  mind  to  steal  time 
for  general  literature  from  the  hours  of  needful 
II 


122 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


repose,  have,  in  most  instances,  paid  dearly  for 
their  generous  zeal.  Very  few  of  those  distin- 
guished victims,  however,  have  bestowed  any 
considerable  portion  of  their  energies  on  the 
particular  department  which  we  have  been  al- 
luding to.  The  history  and  antiquities  of  In- 
dian mythology,  legislation,  and  philosophy 
have  appeared  worthier  of  such  high-aimed 
ambition;  and  he  who  once  plunges  fairly  into 
that  mare  magnum  of  romantic  mystery,  is  little 
likely  to  revisit,  with  all  his  vigour  about  him, 
the  clearer,  and,  perhaps,  with  all  reverence  be 
it  said,  the  more  useful  stream  of  week-day 
observation  and  living  custom.  It  would  be 
below  the  dignity  of  these  learned  moonshees 
and  pundits  to  quit  their  Sanscrit  and  Persic 
lore,  for  the  purpose  of  enlightening  ignorant 
occidentals  in  regard  to  the  actual  cities  and 
manners  of  Eastern  men. 

'  There  is  a  circumstance  of  another  kind, 
which  it  would  be  absurd  to  overlook.  The 
intercourse  which  takes  place  between  distin- 
guished English  functionaries  in  the  military 
and  civil  service  of  the  Company  and  the  upper 
classes  of  the  natives,  is  and  must  be  accompa- 
nied, on  the  side  of  the  latter,  with  many  feel- 


INDIA. 


123 


ings  of  jealousy.  It  seldom  wears  even  tho 
slightest  appearance  of  familiarity,  except  in 
the  chief  seats  of  government ;  and  there,  as 
might  be  supposed,  the  natives  are  rarely  to 
be  seen  now-a-days  in  their  pure  and  unmixed 
condition,  either  as  to  real  character  or  as  to 
external  manners.  Exceptions  of  course  there 
are  to  this  rule,  as  to  most  others;  but  we  be- 
lieve they  are  very  rare.  Of  recent  years.  Sir 
John  Malcolm  furnishes  by  far  the  most  re- 
markable instance; — but  they  who  read  Bish- 
op Heber's  account  of  Sir  John's  personal 
qualifications  will  be  little  disposed  to  draw 
any  general  inference  from  such  an  example. 

'  It  is  strange,  but  true,  that  only  two  Eng- 
lish gentlemen  have  as  yet  travelled  in  India 
completely  as  volunteers — Lord  Valentia,  and 
a  young  man  of  fortune,  whom  Bishop  Heber 
met  with  at  Delhi  ;  and  who  is  still,  we  be- 
lieve, in  the  east.  Perhaps,  were  more  to  fol- 
low the  example,  the  results  might  be  less 
satisfactory  than  one  would  at  first  imagine. 
Orientals  have  no  notion  of  people  performing 
great  and  laborious  journeys  from  motives  of 
mere  curiosity  ;  and  we  gather,  that  when 
such  travellers  do  appear  in  India,  they  are 


124 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


not  unlikely  to  be  received  with  at  least  as 
much  suspicion  as  any  avowed  instruments  of 
the  government. 

'  Considering  Bishop  Heber  merely  as  a 
traveller,  he  appears  to  have  carried  to  India 
habits  and  accomplishments,  and  to  have  tra- 
versed her  territories  under  circumstances 
more  advantageous,  than  any  other  individual, 
the  results  of  whose  personal  observation  have 
as  yet  been  made  public.  He  possessed  the 
eye  of  a  painter  and  the  pen  of  a  poet  ;  a 
mind  richly  stored  with  the  literature  of  Eu- 
rope, both  ancient  and  modern  ;  great  natural 
shrewdness  and  sagacity  ;  and  a  temper  as 
amiable  and  candid  as  ever  accompanied  and 
adorned  the  energies  of  a  fine  genius.  He 
had  travelled  extensively  in  his  earlier  life, 
and  acquired,  in  the  provinces  of  Russia  and 
Turkey  especially,  a  stock  of  practical  know- 
ledge, that  could  not  fail  to  be  of  the  highest 
value  to  him  in  his  Indian  peregrinations. 
His  views  were,  on  all  important  subjects, 
those  of  one  who  had  seen  and  read  much, 
and  thought  more — liberal,  expansive,  worthy 
of  a  philosopher  and  a  statesman.  In  the  ma- 
turity of  manhood  he  retained  for  literature 


INDIA. 


125 


and  science  the  ardent  zeal  of  his  honoured 
youtli.  The  cold  lesson,  nil  admirari,  had 
never  been  able  to  take  hold  on  his  generous 
spirit.  Religion  was  the  presiding  influence  ; 
but  his  religion  graced  as  well  as  heightened 
his  admirable  faculties  ;  it  employed  and  en- 
nobled them  all. 

'  The  character  in  which  he  travelled  gave 
him  very  great  opportunities  and  advantages 
of  observation.  His  high  rank  claimed  re- 
spect, and  yet  it  was  of  a  kind  that  could  in- 
spire no  feelings  of  personal  jealousy  or  dis- 
trust ;  this  the  event  proved,  whatever  might 
have  been  anticipated.  The  softness  and 
grace  of  his  manners  ;  a  natural  kindliness 
that  made  itself  felt  in  every  look,  gesture, 
and  tone  ;  and  an  habitual  elegance,  with 
which  not  one  shade  of  pride,  haughtiness,  or 
vanity  ever  mingled— these,  indeed,  were  qua- 
lities which  must  have  gone  far  to  smooth  the 
rough  paths  before  him,  in  whatever  official 
character  he  had  appeared.  As  it  was,  they 
inspired  everywhere  both  love  and  reverence 
for  the  representative  of  our  Church.  Many 
-will  hear  with  surprise— none,  we  think,  with- 
out pleasure— that  his  sacred  office,  where  it 
11* 


126 


BISHOP  HEBHR. 


was  properly  explained,  even  in  the  remotest 
provinces,  received  many  touching  acknow- 
ledgments. There  was  no  bigotry  about  him, 
to  check  the  influence  of  his  devout  zeal.  In 
quitting  one  of  the  principal  seats  of  Hindoo 
superstition,  we  find  him  concluding  his  lamen- 
tation over  the  darkness  of  the  atmosphere 
v-ith  an  avowal  of  his  hope  and  belief  that 
"  God,  nevertheless,  may  have  much  people  in 
this  city."  And  who  will  not  be  delighted  to 
learn  that  this  wise  and  charitable  spirit  met 
with  its  reward  ; — that  learned  doctors,  both 
Moslem  and  Brahmins, — men  who  would  have 
shrunk  from  the  vehement  harangues  of  half- 
educated  zealots,  however  sincere  and  excel- 
lent,— were  eager  to  hear  a  mild  and  accom- 
plished scholar  reason  of  life,  death,  and  the 
judgment  to  come  ;  and  that  the  poor  peasan- 
try often  flocked  to  him,  as  he  passed  on  his 
way,  to  beg,  not  for  medicines  only,  but  for 
the  prayers  of  the  holy  stranger. 

'  The  bishop,  luckily  for  his  English  readers 
— (for  even  a  Heber  might  have  written  about 
India  in  a  style  less  adapted  for  them,  had  he 
deferred  the  task) — seems  to  have  begun  this 
work  the  very  day  that  he  entered  the  Hooghly : 


ARRIVAL   IN  INDIA. 


127 


he  landed  in  the  course  of  the  evening  at  a 
small  village,  one,  he  was  told,  that  had  been 
but  rarely  visited  by  Europeans,  where  he  WEia 
conducted  to  a  temple  of  Mahadeo  : — 

"  The  grcenhouse-like  smell  (says  he)  and 
temperature  of  the  atmosphere  which  sur- 
rounded us,  the  exotic  appearance  of  the 
plants  and  of  the  people,  the  verdure  of  the 
fields,  the  dark  shadows  of  the  trees,  and  the 
exuberant  and  neglected  vigour  of  the  soil, 
teeming  with  life  and  food,  neglected,  as  it 
were,  out  of  pure  abundance,  would  have  been 
striking  under  any  circumstances  ;  they  were 
still  more  so  to  persons  just  landed  from  a 
three  months'  voyage;  and  to  me,  when  asso- 
ciated with  the  recollection  of  the  objects 
which  have  brought  me  out  to  India,  the  ami- 
able manners  and  countenances  of  the  people, 
contrasted  with  the  symbols  of  their  foolish 
and  polluted  idolatry  now  first  before  me,  im- 
pressed me  with  a  very  solemn  and  earnest 
■wish  that  I  might  in  some  degree,  hoAvever 
small,  be  enabled  to  conduce  to  the  spiritual 
advantage  of  creatures  so  goodly,  so  gentle, 
and  now  so  misled  and  blinded.  '  Angeli 
forent,  si  essent  Christian!  !'   As  the  sun  went 


I'iS 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


down,  many  monstrous  bats,  bigger  than  the 
largest  crows  I  have  seen,  and  chiefly  to  be 
distinguished  from  them  by  their  indented 
wings,  unloosed  their  hold  from  the  palm- 
trees,  and  sailed  slowly  around  us.  They 
might  have  been  supposed  the  guardian  genii 
of  the  pagoda." 

His  first  impressions  concerning  the  out- 
ward appearance  of  the  natives  themselves, 
must  be  exceedingly  interesting  : 

"  Two  observations  (he  says)  struck  me  for- 
cibly ;  first,  that  the  deep  bronze  tint  is  more 
naturally  agreeable  to  the  human  eye  than  the 
fair  skins  of  Europe,  since  we  are  not  dis- 
pleased with  it  even  in  the  first  instance,  while 
it  is  well  known  that  to  them  a  fair  complexion 
gives  the  idea  of  ill  health,  and  of  that  sort  of 
deformity  which  in  our  eyes  belongs  to  an 
Albino.  There  is,  indeed,  something  in  a  ne- 
gro which  requires  long  habit  to  reconcile  the 
eye  to  him  ;  but  for  this  the  features  and  the 
hair,  far  more  than  the  colour,  are  answer- 
able. The  second  observation  was,  how  en- 
tirely tlie  idea  of  indelicacy,  which  would 
naturally  belong  to  such  figures  as  those  now 
around  us  if  they  were  white,  is  prevented  by 


^tOLOUR  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


129 


their  being  of  a  difl'eient  colour  from  our- 
selves. So  much  are  we  children  of  associa- 
tion and  habit,  and  so  instinctively  and  immedi- 
ately do  our  feelings  adapt  themselves  to  a 
total  change  of  circumstances  ;  it  is  the  partial 
and  inconsistent  change  only  which  affects  us." 

"  The  great  difference  in  colour  between 
different  natives  struck  me  much:  of  the  crowd 
by  whom  we  were  surrounded,  some  were 
black  as  negroes,  others  merely  copper-co- 
loured, and  others  little  darker  than  the  Tu- 
nisines  whom  I  have  seen  at  Liverpool.  Mr. 
Mill,  the  principal  of  Bishop's  College,  who, 
with  Mr.  Corrie,  one  of  the  chaplains  in  the 
Company's  service,  had  come  down  to  meet 
me,  and  who  had  seen  more  of  India  than  most 
men,  tells  me  that  he  cannot  account  for  this 
difference,  which  is  general  throughout  the 
country,  and  everywhere  striking.  It  is  not 
merely  the  difference  of  exposure,  since  thi? 
variety  of  tint  is  visible  in  the  fishermen  who 
are  naked  all  alike.  Nor  does  it  depend  on 
caste,  since  very  high-caste  Brahmins  are 
sometimes  black,  while  Pariahs  are  compara- 
tively fair.  It  seems,  therefore,  to  be  an  ac- 
cidental difference,  like  that  of  light  and  dark 


130 


BISHOP  HEBEK. 


complexions  in  Europe,  though  where  so  much 
of  the  body  is  exposed  to  sight,  it  becomes 
more  striking  here  than  in  our  own  country." 

"  Most  of  the  Hindoo  idols  are  of  clay,  and 
very  much  resemble  in  composition,  colouring, 
and  execution,  though  of  course  not  in  form, 
the  more  paltry  sort  of  images  which  are  car- 
ried about  in  England  for  sale  by  the  Lago  di 
Como  people.  At  certain  times  of  the  year, 
great  numbers  of  these  are  in  fact  hawked  about 
the  streets  of  Calcutta  in  the  same  manner,  on 
men's  heads.  Tliis  is  before  they  have  been 
consecrated,  which  takes  place  on  their  being 
solemnly  washed  in  the  Ganges  by  a  Brahmin 
Pundit.  Till  this  happens,  they  possess  no  sa- 
cred character,and  are  frequently  given  as  toys 
to  children,  and  used  as  ornaments  of  rooms, 
which  when  hallowed  they  could  not  be,  with- 
out giving  great  oflence  to  every  Hindoo  who 
saw  them  thus  employed.  I  thought  it  re- 
markable that  though  most  of  the  male  deities 
are  represented  of  a  deep  brown  colour,  like 
the  natives  of  the  country,  the  females  are 
usually  no  less  red  and  white  than  our  porce- 
lain beauties,  as  exhibited  in  England.  But 
it  is  evident  from  the  expressions  of  most  of 


COLOUR  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


131 


the  Indians  themselves,  from  the  style  of  their 
amatory  poetry,  and  other  circumstances,  that 
they  consider  fairness  as  a  part  of  beauty,  and 
a  proof  of  noble  blood.  They  do  not  like  to 
be  called  black,  and  though  the  Abyssinians, 
who  are  sometimes  met  with  in  the  country, 
are  very  little  darker  than  they  themselves 
are,  their  jest-books  are  full  of  taunts  on  the 
charcoal  complexion  of  the  '  Hubshee.'  Much 
of  this  has  probably  arisen  from  their  having 
been  so  long  subjected  to  the  Moguls,  and 
other  conquerors  originally  from  more  north- 
ern climates,  and  who  continued  to  keep  up 
the  comparative  fairness  of  their  stock  by  fre- 
quent importation  of  northern  beauties.  In- 
dia, too,  has  been  always,  and  long  before  the 
Europeans  came  hither,  a  favourite  theatre 
for  adventurers  from  Persia,  Greece,  Tartary, 
Turkey,  and  Arabia,  all  white  men,  and  all  in 
their  turn  possessing  themselves  of  wealth 
and  power.  These  circumstances  must  have 
greatly  contributed  to  make  a  fair  complexion 
fashionable.  It  is  remarkable,  however,  to 
observe  how  surely  all  these  classes  of  men 
in  a  few  generations,  even  without  any  inter- 
maiTiage  with  the  Hindoos,  assume  the  deep 


132 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


olive  tint,  little  less  dark  than  a  negro,  which 
seems  natural  to  the  climate.  The  Portu- 
guese natives  form  unions  among  themselves 
alone,  or,  if  they  can,  with  Europeans.  Yet 
the  Portuguese  have,  during  a  three  hundred 
years'  residence  in  India,  become  as  black  aa 
Caffres.  Surely  this  goes  far  to  disprove  the 
assertion,  which  is  sometimes  made,  that  cli- 
mate alone  is  insufficient  to  account  for  the 
difference  between  the  negro  and  the  Eu- 
ropean. It  is  true,  that  in  the  negro  are  other 
peculiarities  which  the  Indian  has  not,  and 
to  which  the  Portuguese  colonist  shows  no 
symptom  of  approximation,  and  which  un- 
doubtedly do  not  appear  to  follow  so  naturally 
from  the  climate  as  that  swarthiness  of  com- 
plexion which  is  the  sole  distinction  between 
the  Hindoo  and  the  European.  But  if  heat  . 
produce  one  change,  other  peculiarities  of  cli- 
mate may  produce  other  and  additional  cliang- 
es,  and  when  such  peculiarities  have  three  or 
four  thousand  years  to  operate  in,  it  is  not 
easy  to  fix  any  limits  to  their  power.  I  am 
inclined,  after  all,  to  suspect  that  our  Eu- 
ropean vanity  leads  us  astray  in  supposing 
that  our  own  is  the  primitive  complexion, 


CALCUTTA. 


133 


which  I  should  rather  suppose  was  that  of  the 
Indian,  half  way  between  the  two  extremes, 
and  perhaps  the  most  agreeable  to  the  eye 
and  instinct  of  the  majority  of  the  human  race. 
A  colder  climate,  and  a  constant  use  of  clothes, 
may  have  blanched  the  skin  as  effectually  as 
a  burning  sun  and  nakedness  may  have  tan- 
ned it  ;  and  I  am  encouraged  in  this  hypo- 
thesis by  observing  that  of  animals  the  natural 
colours  are  generally  dusky  and  uniform, 
while  whiteness  and  a  variety  of  tint  almost 
invariably  follow  domestication,  shelter  from 
the  elements,  and  a  mixed  and  unnatural  diet. 
Thus' while  hardship,  additional  exposure,  a 
greater  degree  of  heat,  and  other  circumstan- 
ces with  which  we  are  unacquainted,  may 
have  deteriorated  the  Hindoo  into  a  negro, 
opposite  causes  may  have  changed  him  into 
the  progressively  lighter  tints  of  the  Chinese, 
the  Persian,  the  Turk,  the  Russian  and  the 
Englishman." 

The  Bishop's  description  of  Calcutta  and  the 
neighbouring  country  is  highly  entertaining  ; 
but  on  this  we  do  not  purpose  to  dwell,  being 
more  attracted  by  his  sketches  of  things  "  na- 
tive, and  to  the  manner  born."  We  must, 
12 


134 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


however,  make  room  for  his  introduction  to 
the  durbar,  or  native  levee  of  the  Governor- 
general — "  which  all  the  principal  native  resi- 
dents in  Calcutta  were  expected  to  attend,  as 
well  as  the  vakeels  from  several  Indian  prin- 
ces.— I  found,  (says  he,)  on  my  arrival,  the 
levee  had  begun,  and  that  Lord  Amherst,  at- 
tended by  his  aides-du-camp  and  Persian  se- 
cretary, had  already  walked  down  one  side, 
where  the  persons  of  most  rank,  and  who  were 
to  receive  '  khelats,'  or  honorary  dresses, 
were  stationed.  I  therefore  missed  this  cere- 
mony, but  joined  him  and  walked  round 
those  to  whom  he  had  not  yet  spoken,  com- 
prising some  persons  of  considerable  rank  and 
wealth,  and  some  learned  men,  travellers  from 
different  eastern  countries,  who  each  in  turn 
addressed  his  compliments,  or  petitions,  or 
complaints  to  the  governor.  There  were  se- 
veral whom  we  thus  passed  who  spoke  English 
not  only  fluently  but  gracefully.  Among 
these  were  Baboo  Ramchunder  Roy  and  his 
four  brothers,  all  fine,  tall,  stout,  young  men, 
the  eldest  of  whom  is  about  to  build  one  of 
Mr.  Shakespear's  rope-bridges  over  the  Ca- 
ramnasa.* 

*  Of  these  curious  bridges,  tlie  bisliop  elsewhere  says, 


governor-general's  durbar.  135 


"  After  Lord  Amherst  had  completed  the 
circle,  he  stood  on  the  lower  step  of  the 
throne,  and  the  visitors  advanced  one  by  one 
to  take  leave.  First  came  a  young  raja  of  the 
Rajapootana  district,  who  had  received  that 
day  the  investiture  of  his  father's  territories, 
in  a  splendid  brocade  khelat  and  turban  ;  he 
was  a  little,  pale,  shy-looking  boy,  of  twelve 
years  old.  Lord  Amherst,  in  addition  to  these 
splendid  robes,  placed  a  large  diamond  aigrette 
in  his  turban,  tied  a  string  of  valuable  pearls 
round  his  neck,  then  gave  him  a  small  silver 

"  Tlieir  pi  iiu  iplp  differs  fiom  thai  ol'  chaiii-briilgcs,  in  tlie 
rontre  being  u  little  elevated,  and  in  dieir  needing  no  abut- 
ments. It  is,  ill  fact,  an  application  of  a  ship's  standing- 
rigging  to  a  new  purjiose,  and  it  is  not  even  necessaiy  tliat 
there  should  be  any  foundation  at  all,  as  the  whole  may  be 
made  to  rest  on  flat  timbers,  and,  with  the  complete  appa- 
ratus of  cordage,  iron,  and  Bamboos,  may  be  taken  to 
pieces  and  set  up  again  in  a  few  hours,  and  removed  from 
place  to  place  by  the  aid  of  a  few  camels  and  elephants. 
One  of  these,  over  a  torrent  near  Benares,  of  one  hmidred 
and  sixty  feet  span,  stood  a  severe  test  during  last  year's 
inundation,  when,  if  ever,  the  cordage  might  have  been 
expected  to  suffer  from  the  rain,  and  when  a  vast  crowd  of 
neighbotu-ing  villagers  took  refuge  on  it  as  the  only  safe 
place  in  tlie  neighbourhood,  and  indeed  almost  tlie  only  ob- 
ject which  continued  to  hold  itself  above  the  water." 


1S6 


EISHOr  HEBER. 


bottle  of  attar  of  roses,  and  a  lump  of  pawn 
or  betel,  wrapped  up  in  a  plaintain  leaf.  Next 
CEime  forwards  the  '  vakeel,'  or  envoy  of  the 
Maharaja  Scindeah,  also  a  boy,  not  above 
sixteen,  but  smart,  self-possessed,  and  dandy- 
looking.  His  khelat  and  presents  were  a  lit- 
tle, and  but  a  little,  less  splendid  than  those 
of  his  precursor.  Then  followed  Oude,  Nag- 
poor,  Nepaul,  all  represented  by  their  vakeels, 
and  each  in  turn  honoured  by  similar,  though 
less  splendid  marks  of  attention.  The  next 
was  a  Persian  khan,  a  fine  military  looking 
man,  rather  corpulent,  and  of  a  complexion 
not  differing  from  that  of  a  Turk,  or  other 
southern  Europeans,  with  a  magnificent  black 
beard,  and  a  very  pleasing  and  animated  ad- 
dress. A  vakeel  from  Sind  succeeded,  with 
a  high  red  cap,  and  was  followed  by  an  Arab, 
handsomely  dressed,  and  as  fair  nearly,  though 
not  so  good-looking  as  the  Persian.  These 
were  all  distinguished,  and  received  each  some 
mark  of  favour.  Those  who  followed  had 
only  a  little  attar  poured  on  their  handker- 
chiefs, and  some  pawn.  On  the  whole  it  was 
an  interesting  and  striking  sight,  though  less 
magnificent  than  I  had  expected,  and  less  so 


CALCUTTA. 


137 


1  think  than  tlic  levee  of  an  European  mo- 
narch. The  sameness  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  dresses  (white  muslin)  was  not  sufficiently 
relieved  by  the  splendour  of  the  few  khelats  ; 
and  even  these,  which  were  of  gold  and  silver 
brocade,  were  in  a  great  measure  eclipsed  by 
the  scarlet  and  blue  uniforms,  gold  lace,  and 
feathers  of  the  English.  One  of  the  most 
striking  figures  was  the  governor-general's 
native  aid-du-camp,  a  tall,  strong-built,  and 
remarkably  handsome  man,  in  the  flower  of 
his  age,  and  of  a  countenance  at  once  kind 
and  bold.  His  dress  was  a  very  rich  hussar 
uniform,  and  he  advanced  last  of  the  circle, 
with  the  usual  military  salute  ;  then,  instead 
of  the  offering  of  money  which  each  of  the  rest 
made,  he  bared  a  small  part  of  the  blade  of  his 
sabre,  and  held  it  out  to  the  governor.  The 
attar  he  received,  not  on  his  handkerchief,  but 
on  his  white  cotton  gloves.  I  had  on  former 
occasions  noticed  this  soldier  from  his  heigiit, 
striking  appearance  and  rich  uniform.  He  is 
a  very  respectable  man,  and  reckoned  a  good 
officer." 

We  find  the  following  entry  under  date 
April  2 Il- 
ls* 


138 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


"  I  entered  into  my  forty-second  year.  God 
grant  that  my  future  years  may  be  as  happy, 
if  he  sees  good!  and  better,  far  better  spent 
than  those  which  are  gone  by!  This  day  I 
christened  my  dear  little  Harriet.  God  bless 
and  prosper  her  with  all  earthly  and  heavenly 
blessings!  We  had  afterwards  a  great  dinner 
and  evening  party,  at  which  were  present  the 
Governor  and  Lady  Amherst,  and  nearly  all 
our  acquaintance  in  Calcutta.  To  the  latter 
I  also  asked  several  of  the  wealthy  natives, 
who  were  much  pleased  with  the  attention, 
being,  in  fact,  one  which  no  European  of  high 
station  in  Calcutta  had  previously  paid  to  any 
of  them.  Hurree  Mohun  Thakoor  observing 
'  What  an  increased  interest  the  presence  of 
females  gave  to  our  parties,'  I  reminded  him 
that  the  introduction  of  women  into  society 
was  an  ancient  Hindoo  custom,  and  only  dis- 
continued in  consequence  of  the  Mussulman 
conquest.  He  assented  with  a  laugh,  adding, 
however,  '  It  is  too  late  for  us  to  go  back  to 
the  old  custom  now.'  Rhadacant  Deb,  who 
overheard  us,  observed  more  seriously,  '  It  is 
very  true  that  we  did  not  use  to  shut  up  our 
women  till  the  times  of  the  Mussulmans.  But 


139 


before  we  could  give  them  the  same  liberty  as 
the  Europeans,  they  must  be  better  educated.' 
I  introduced  these  Baboos  to  the  chief-justice, 
which  pleaded  them  much,  though,  perhaps, 
they  were  still  better  pleased  with  my  wife 
herself  presenting  them  pawn,  rosewater,  and 
attar  of  roses  before  they  went,  after  the  na- 
tive custom." 


140 


BISHOP  HEBEU. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Voyuf^c  it/i  the  (lunges — Visitation  of  the  Upper  Pro- 
vinces. 

It  was  on  the  15th  of  the  following  June 
that  the  Bishop  left  Calcutta  for  his  long  and 
arduous  visitation  of  the  Upper  Provinces. 
He  was  now  separated  from  his  family,  and 
felt  sorely  the  loss  of  that  "  atmosphere  of 
home,"  as  he  beautifully  calls  it,  which  he  had 
hitherto  carried  about  with  him. 

For  several  months,  the  Bishop  and  his 
companions  travelled  chiefly  by  water — merely 
landing  'vhen  any  duty  vv^as  to  be  performed, 
or  aiiy  object  of  special  interest  solicited  their 
attention. 

The  boat  in  whicli  he  went  is  thus  describ- 
ed in  his  Journal.  "  A  Bengalee  boat  is  the 
simplest  and  rudest  of  all  possible  structures. 
It  is  decked  over,  throughout  its  whole  length, 
with  bamboo;  and  on  this  is  erected  a  low 
light  fabric  of  bamboo  and  straw,  exactly  like 
a  small  cottage  without  a  chimney.  This  is 
the  cabin,  baggage-room,  &c.;  here  the  prij- 


TOTA.GE  UP  THE  GANGES. 


141 


eengers  sit  and  sleep;  and  here,  if  it  be  in- 
tended for  a  cooking-boat,  are  one  or  two 
small  ranges  of  brick-Avork  like  English  hct- 
hearths,  but  not  rising  more  than  a  few  inches 
above  the  deck,  with  small,  round,  sugar-loaf 
holes,  like  those  in  a  lime-kiln,  adapted  for 
dressing  victuals  with  charcoal.  As  the  roof 
of  this  apartment  is  by  far  too  fragile  for  men 
to  stand  or  sit  on,  and  as  the  apartment  itself 
takes  up  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  vessel,  up- 
right bamboos  are  fixed  by  its  side,  which  sup- 
port a  kind  of  grating  of  the  same  material, 
immediately  above  the  roof,  on  which,  at  the 
height  probably  of  six  or  eight  feet  above  the 
surface  of  the  water,  the  boatmen  sit  or  stand 
to  work  the  vessel.  They  have,  for  oars,  long 
bamboos,  with  circular  boards  at  the  end,  a 
longer  one  of  the  same  sort  to  steer  with,  a 
long  rough  bamboo  for  a  mast,  and  one,  or 
sometimes  two  sails,  of  a  square  form,  (or 
rather  broader  above  than  below,)  of  very 
coarse  and  flimsy  canvass.  Nothing  can  seem 
more  clumsy  and  dangerous  than  these  boats. 
Dangerous  I  beheve  they  are,  but  with  a  fair 
wind  they  sail  over  the  water  merrily.  The 
breeze  this  morning  carried  us  along  at  a  good 


142 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


rate,  yet  our  English-rigged  brig  could  do  no 
more  than  keep  up  with  the  cooking-boat." 

The  Bishop's  amiable  disposition  led  him, 
in  his  progress,  to  pay  whatever  attentions  lay 
in  his  power  to  those  dethroned  princes,  whose 
melancholy  remains  of  pomp  and  grandeur  are 
among  the  most  interesting  objects  that  any 
Indian  Traveller  can  meet  with.  A  mere  ac- 
cident, however,  (having  landed  to  see  a  pa- 
goda,) was  the  means  of  his  first  introduction 
to  one  of  these  personages.  It  was  on  the 
18th  of  June,  at  Sibnibashi — the  Sibnibas  of 
Rennell  (who  has,  however,  placed  it  on  the 
wrong  bank  of  the  river,) — that  a  priest  of 
Rama,  having  been  put  into  good  humour  by 
a  handsome  fee,  for  showing  his  temple,  asked 
the  Bishop  if  he  would  like  to  see  the  Rajah's 
palace  also. 

"  On  my  assenting,  they  led  us  to  a  really 
noble  gothic  gateway,  overgrown  with  beauti- 
ful broad-leaved  ivy,  but  in  good  preservation, 
and  decidedly  handsomer,  though  in  pretty 
much  the  same  style,  with  the  '  Holy  Gate' 
of  the  Kremlin  in  Moscow.  Within  this, 
which  had  apparently  been  the  entrance  into 
the  city,  extended  a  broken  but  still  stately 


SIBNIBASHI. 


143 


avenue  of  tall  trees,  and  on  either  side  a  wil- 
derness of  ruined  buildings,  overgrown  with 
trees  and  brush-wood,  which  reminded  Stowe 
of  the  baths  of  Caracalla,  and  me  of  the  up- 
per part  of  the  city  of  Caffa.  I  asked  who 
had  destroyed  the  place,  and  was  told  Seraiah 
Dowla,  an  answer  which  (as  it  was  evidently 
a  Hindoo  ruin)  fortunately  suggested  to  me 
the  name  of  the  Raja,  Kissen  Chund.  On 
asking  whether  this  had  been  his  residence, 
one  of  the  peasants  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive, adding  that  the  Raja's  grand-children 
yet  lived  hard  by.  By  this  I  supposed  he 
meant  somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood,  since 
nothing  here  promised  shelter  to  any  beings 
but  wild  beasts,  and  as  I  went  along  I  could 
not  help  looking  carefully  before  me,  and 
thinking  of  Thalaba  in  the  ruins  of  Babylon; 

'  Cautiously  he  trodc,  and  felt 

The  dangerous  ground  before  him  with  his  bow  ;  .   .   .  . 

The  adder,  at  the  noise  alarmed, 

Launched  at  the  intruding  staff  her  arrowy  tongue.' 

Our  guide  meantime  turned  short  to  the  right, 
and  led  us  into  what  were  evidently  the  ruins 
of  a  very  e.\tensive  palace.    Some  parts  of  it 


144 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


reminded  me  of  Conway  Castle,  and  others 
of  Bolton  Abbey.  It  had  towers  like  the 
former,  though  of  less  stately  height,  and  had 
also  long  and  striking  cloisters  of  gothic  arch- 
es, but  all  overgrown  with  ivy  and  jungle, 
roofless  and  desolate.  Here,  however,  in  a 
court,  whose  gateway  had  still  its  old  folding 
doors  on  their  hinges,  the  two  boys  whom  we 
had  seen  on  the  beach  came  forward  to  meet 
us,  were  announced  as  the  great  grandsons  of 
Rajah  Kissen  Chund,  and  invited  us  very 
courteously,  in  Persian,  to  enter  their  father's 
dwelling.  I  looked  round  in  exceeding  sur- 
prise. There  was  no  more  appearance  of  in- 
habitation than  in  Conway.  Two  or  three 
cows  were  grazing  among  the  ruins,  and  one 
was  looking  out  from  the  top  of  a  dilapidated 
turret,  whither  she  had  scrambled  to  browse 
on  the  ivy.  Tlie  breech  of  a  broken  cannon, 
and  a  fragment  of  a  mutilated  inscription  lay  on 
the  grass,  which  was  evidently  only  kept  down 
by  the  grazing  of  cattle;  and  the  jackalls, 
whose  yells  began  to  be  heard  around  us  as 
the  evening  closed  in,  seemed  the  natural 
lords  of  the  place.  Of  course,  I  expressed 
no  astonishment,  but  said  how  much  respect  I 


SIB.MBASHI. 


145 


felt  for  their  family,  of  whose  ancient  splen- 
dour I  was  well  informed,  and  that  I  should 
be  most  happy  to  pay  my  compliments  to  the 
raja,  their  father.  They  immediately  led  us 
up  a  short,  steep,  straight  flight  of  steps,  in 
the  thickness  of  the  wall  of  one  of  the  tow- 
ers, precif3ely  such  as  that  of  which  we  find 
the  remains  in  one  of  the  gateways  of  Rhud- 
dlan  Castle,  assuring  me  that  it  was  a  very 
'  good  road;'  and  at  the  door  of  a  little  vault- 
ed and  unfurnished  room,  like  that  which  is 
shown  in  Carnarvon  Castle  as  the  Queen's 
bed-chamber,  we  were  received  by  the  Raja 
Omichund,  a  fat,  shortish  man,  of  about  forty- 
five,  of  rather  fair  complexion,  but  with  no 
other  clothes  than  his  waistcloth  and  Brahmi- 
nical  string,  and  only  distinguished  from  his 
vassals  by  having  his  fbr-^head  marked  all  over 
with  alternate  stripes  of  chalk,  vermilion,  and 

j  gold  leaf  The  boys  had  evidently  run  home 
to  inform  him  of  our  approach,  and  he  had 
made  some  preparation  to  receive  us  in  dur- 
bar. His  own  musnud  was  ready,  a  kind  of 
mattress,  laid  on  the  ground,  on  which,  with  a 

I  very  harmless  ostentation,  he  had  laid  a  few 
trinkets,  a  gold  watch,  betel-nut  box,  he.  &c. 

'  13 


146 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


Two  old  arm  chairs  were  placed  opposite  for 
Stowe  and  me.  The  young  rajas  sat  down  at 
their  father's  right  hand,  and  his  naked  do- 
mestics ranged  themselves  in  a  line  behind 
him,  with  their  hands  respectfully  folded.  On 
the  other  side  the  Sotaburdar  stood  behind 
me;  Stowe's  servant  took  place  behind  him, 
and  Abdullah  between  us  as  interpreter,  which 
functions  he  discharged  extremely  well,  and 
which  was  the  more  necessary  since,  in  strict 
conformity  with  court  etiquette,  the  conversa- 
tion passed  in  Persian.  I  confess  I  was  mov- 
ed by  the  apparent  poverty  of  the  representa- 
tive of  a  house  once  very  powerful,  and  paid 
him  more  attention  than  I  perhaps  might  have 
done  had  his  drawing-room  presented  a  more 
])rincely  style.  He  was  exceedingly  pleased 
by  my  calling  him  '  Maha-rajah,'  or  Great 
King,  as  if  he  were  still  a  sovereign  like  his 
ancestors,  and  acknowledged  the  compliment 
by  a  smile,  and  a  profound  reverence.  He 
seemed,  however,  much  puzzled  to  make  out 
my  rank,  never  having  heard  (he  said)  of  any 
'  Lord  Sahib,'  except  the  governor-general, 
while  he  was  still  more  perplexed  by  the  ex- 
position of  '  Lord  Bishop  Sahib,'  which,  for 


SIBNIBASIII. 


some  reason  or  other,  my  servants  always  pre- 
fer to  that  of  '  Lord  Padre.'  He  apologized 
very  civilly  for  his  ignorance,  observing  that 
he  had  not  been  for  many  years  in  Calcutta, 
and  that  very  few  Sahibs  ever  came  that  way. 
I  told  him  that  I  was  going  to  Dacca,  Benha- 
res,  Delhi,  and  possibly  Hurdwar;  that  I  was 
to  return  in  nine  or  ten  months,  and  that 
should  he  visit  Calcutta  again,  it  would  give 
me  great  pleasure  if  he  would  come  to  see 
me.  He  said  he  seldom  stirred  from  home, 
but  as  he  spoke  his  sons  looked  at  him  with  so 
much  earnest  and  intelligible  expression  of 
countenance,  that  he  added  that  '  his  boys 
would  be  delighted  to  see  Calcutta  and  wait 
on  me.'  He  then  asked  very  particularly 
of  Abdullah  in  what  street  and  what  house  I 
lived.  After  a  short  conversation  of  this  kind, 
and  some  allusions  on  my  part  to  his  ances- 
tors and  their  ancient  wealth  and  splendour, 
which  were  well  taken,  we  took  leave,  escort- 
ed to  the  gate  by  our  two  young  friends;  and 
thence,  by  a  nearer  way  through  the  ruins,  to 
our  pinnace,  by  an  elderly  man,  who  said  he 
was  the  Raja's  '  Mucktar,'  or  chamberlain, 
and  whose  obsequious  courtesy,  high  reve- 


148  BISHOP  HEBEK. 

rence  for  his  master's  family,  and  numorou*, 
apologies  for  the  unprepared  state  ia  which 
we  had  found  '  the  court,'  reminded  me  of 
old  Caleb  Balderstone." 

We  throw  together  a  few  detached  passa- 
ges, which  may  servo  to  give  some  notion  of 
the  sort  of  scenery  and  adventures  the  Bishop 
encountered  in  his  voyage. 

"  June  '-22. — On  the  bank  we  Ibund  a  dwarf 
mulberry  tree,  the  first  we  have  seen  in  In- 
dia. A  very  handsome  and  sleek  young  bull, 
branded  with  the  emblem  of  Siva  on  his 
haunches,  was  grazing  in  the  green  paddy 
(rice-field.)  He  crossed  our  path  quite  tamo 
and  fearless,  and  seeing  some  fiofin  grass  in 
Stowe's  hand,  coolly  walked  up  to  smell  at  it. 
These  bulls  are  turned  out  when  calves,  on 
different  .solemn  occasions,  l)y  wealthy  Hin- 
doos, as  an  acceptable  offering  to  Siva.  It 
would  be  a  mortal  sin  to  strike  or  injure  them. 
They  feed  where  they  choose,  and  devout 
persons  take  great  delight  in  pampering  them. 
They  are  exceeding  pests  in  the  villages  near 
Calcutta,  breaking  into  gardens,  thrusting 
their  noses  into  the  stalls  of  fruiterers  and 
pastry-cooks'  shops,  and  helping  themselves 


BULLS  OF  SIVA. 


149 


■without  ceremony.  Like  otiier  petted  ani- 
mals, they  are  sometimes  mischievous,  and 
are  said  to  resent  with  a  push  of  their  horns 
any  delay  in  gratifying  their  wishes." 

June  21. — We  passed,  to  my  surprise,  a 
row  of  no  less  than  nine  or  ten  large  and  very 
beautiful  otters,  tethered,  with  straw  collars 
and  long  strings,  to  Bamboo  stakes  on  the 
bank.  Some  were  swimming  about  at  the  full 
extent  of  their  strings,  or  lying  half  in  and 
half  out  of  the  water,  others  were  rolling  them- 
selves in  the  sun  on  the  sandy  bank,  uttering 
a  shrill  whistling  noise  as  if  in  play.  I  was 
told  that  most  of  the  fishermen  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood kept  one  or  more  of  these  animals, 
who  were  almost  as  tame  as  dogs,  and  of  great 
use  in  fishing,  sometimes  driving  the  shoals 
into  the  nets,  sometimes  bringing  out  the 
larger  fish  with  their  teeth.  I  was  much 
pleased  and  interested  with  the  sight.  It  has 
always  been  a  fancy  of  mine,  that  the  poor 
creatures  whom  we  waste  and  persecute  to 
death  for  no  cause,  but  the  gratification  of  our 
cruelty,  might  by  reasonable  treatment  be 
made  the  sources  of  abundant  amusement  and 
advantage  to  us.  The  simple  Hindoo  shows 
13* 


BISHOP 


HEBER. 


here  a  better  tuste  luicl  judgment,  tlian  half 
the  otter-hunting  and  badger-baiting  gentry 
of  England." 

— Tlie  river  continues  a  noble  one, 
and  the  country  bordering  on  it  is  now  of  a 
fertility  and  tranquil  beauty,  such  as  I  never 
saw  before.  Beauty  if  certainly  has,  though 
it  has  neither  mountain,  nor  waterfall,  nor  rock, 
which  all  enter  into  our  notions  of  beautiful 
scenery  in  England.  But  the  broad  river, 
with  a  very  rapid  current,  swarming  with  small 
picturesque  canoes,  and  no  less  picturesque 
fishermen,  winding  through  fields  of  green 
corn,  natural  meadows  covered  with  cattle, 
successive  plantations  of  cotton,  sugar,  and 
pawn,  studded  with  villages  and  masts  in  eve- 
ry creek  and  angle,  and  hacked  continually 
(though  not  in  a  coniimious  and  heavy  line 
like  th(!  shores  of  the  Hooghly)  with  magnifi- 
cent peepnl,  banian,  bamboo,  betel,  and  coco 
trees,  affords  a  succession  of  pictures  the  most 
t  ianls  that  I  liavc  seen,  and  infinitely  lieyond 
anything  which  I  ever  expected  to  see  in  Ben- 
s,al.  To  add  to  our  pleasure  this  day,  we  had 
a  fine  rattling  breeze,  carrying  us  along  against 
)!ic  stream,  wliich  it  raised  into  a  curl,  at  th-i 


SCENERY  OF  THE  GAXGE3.  151 


rate  of  five  miles  an  hour;  and  more  than  all, 
1  heard  from  my  wife." 

"  July  1 . — The  noise  of  the  Ganges  is  really 
like  the  sea.  As  we  passed  near  a  hollow  and 
precipitous  part  of  the  bank,  on  which  the  wind 
set  full,  it  told  on  my  ear  exactly  as  if  the  tide 
were  coming  in;  and  when  the  moon  rested 
at  night  on  this  great,  and,  as  it  then  seemed, 
this  shoreless  extent  of  water,  we  might  have 
fancied  ourselves  in  the  cuddy  of  an  Indiaman, 
if  our  cabin  were  not  too  near  the  water." 

"  Dacca,  July  6. — The  Nawab's  carriage 
passed  us,  an  old  landau,  drawn  by  four  horses, 
with  a  coachman  and  postilion  in  red  liveries, 
and  some  horse-guards  in  red  also,  with  high 
ugly  caps,  like  those  of  the  old  grenadiers,  with 
gilt  plates  in  front,  and  very  ill  mounted.  The 
great  men  of  India  evidently  lose  in  point  of 
effect,  by  an  injudicious  and  imperfect  adop- 
tion of  European  fashions.  An  eastern  cav<i- 
lier,  with  his  turban  and  flowing  robes,  is  a 
striking  object;  and  an  eastern  prince  on  liorse- 
back,  and  attended  by  liis  usual  train  of  white- 
staved  and  high-capped  janizaries,  a  still  more 
noble  one;  but  an  eastern  prince  in  a  shabby 
carriage,  guarded  by  men  dressed  like  an 


152 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


equestrian  troop  at  a  fair,  is  nothing  more  than 
ridiculous  and  melancholy.  It  is,  however, 
but  natural,  that  these  unfortunate  sovereigns 
should  imitate,  as  far  as  they  can,  those  cos- 
tumes which  the  example  of  their  conquerors 
has  associated  with  their  most  recent  ideas  of 
power  and  splendour." 

"  The  Nawab  called  this  morning,  according 
to  his  promise,  accompanied  by  his  eldest  son. 
He  is  a  good-looking  elderly  man,  of  so  fair  a 
complexion,  as  to  prove  the  care  with  which 
the  descendants  of  the  Mussulman  conquerors 
have  kept  up  their  northern  blood.  His  hands, 
more  particularly,  are  nearly  as  white  as  those 
of  an  European.  He  sat  for  a  good  while 
smoking  his  hookah,  and  conversing  fluently 
enough  in  English,  quoting  some  English 
books  of  history,  and  showing  himself  very 
tolerably  acquainted  with  the  events  of  the 
Spanish  war,  and  the  part  borne  in  it  by  Sir 
Edward  Paget.  His  son  is  a  man  of  about 
thirty,  of  a  darker  complexion,  and  education 
more  neglected,  being  unable  to  converse  in 
English.  The  Nawab  told  us  of  a  fine  wild 
elephant,  which  his  people  were  then  in  pur- 
suit of,  within  a  few  miles  of  Dacca.    He  said 


NABOB   OF  DACCA. 


153 


that  they  did  nof  often  come  so  near.  Ho 
cautioned  me  against  going  amongst  the  ruins, 
except  on  an  elephant,  since  tygers  sometimes, 
and  snakes  always,  abounded  there.  He  ask- 
ed me  several  pertinent  questions  as  to  the 
intended  extent  and  object  of  my  journey,  and 
talked  about  a  Greek  priest,  who,  he  said, 
wished  to  be  introduced  to  me,  and  whom  ho 
praised  as  a  very  worthy,  well-informed  man. 
I  asked  him  about  the  antiquities  of  Dacca, 
whicii  he  said  were  not  very  old,  the  city  itself 
being  a  comparatively  recent  Mussulman  foun- 
dation. He  was  dressed  in  plain  white  mus- 
lin, with  a  small  gold  tassel  attached  to  his 
turban.  His  son  had  a  turban  of  purple  silk, 
ribbed  with  gold,  with  some  jewels  in  it.  Both 
had  splendid  diamond  rings.  1  took  good  care 
to  call  the  father  '  his  highness,'  a  distinction 
of  which  Mr.  Master  had  warned  me  that  he' 
was  jealous,  and  which  he  himself,  I  observed, 
was  very  careful  always  to  pay  him.  At  length 
pawn  and  attar  of  roses  were  brought  to  me, 
and  I  rose  to  give  them  to  the  visitors.  The 
Nawab  smiled,  and  said,  '  What,  has  your 
I  lordship  learned  our  customs.^'  Our  guests 
then  rose,  and  Mr.  Master  gave  his  arm  to  th< 


154 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


NaAvab  to  lead  him  down  stairs.  The  stair- 
case was  lined  with  attendants  with  silver 
sticks,  and  the  liorse-guards,  as  before,  were 
round  the  carriage;  this  was  evidently  second- 
hand, having  the  arms  of  its  former  proprietor 
still  on  the  pannel,  and  the  whole  show  was 
any  thing  but  splendid.  The  Company's  se- 
poys were  turned  out  to  present  arms,  and 
the  Nawab's  own  followers  raised  a  singular 
sort  of  acclamation  as  he  got  into  his  carriage, 
-reckoning  up  the  titles  of  his  family,  '  Lion  of 
War!'  'Prudent  in  Counsel!'  'High  and 
Mighty  Prince,'  &.C.  &c.  But  the  thing  was 
done  with  little  spirit,  and  more  like  the  pro- 
clamations of  a  crier  in  an  English  court  of 
justice,  than  a  ceremony  in  which  any  person 
took  an  interest.  I  was,  however,  gratified 
throughout  the  scene  by  seeing  the  humane 
(for  it  was  even  more  than  good-natured)  re- 
spect, deference,  and  kindness,  which  in  every 
Avord  and  action  Mr.  Master  showed  to  this 
poor  humbled  potentate.  It  could  not  have 
been  greater,  or  in  better  taste,  had  its  object 
been  an  English  prince  of  the  blood." — Heber^s 
Journal. 

Gradually  adopting,  as  they  are,  much  of 


MEER  ISRAF  ALL 


155 


I  ,  the  habits,  customs,  and,  above  all,  the  educa- 
tion, properly  so  called,  of  English  noblemen, 
the  future  destinies  of  these  native  princes 

I     must  be  allowed  to  form  a  subject  of  very  great 

t     interest,  and  no  less  importance. 

We  find  the  Bishop  honoured,  on  his  first 
landing  by  the  attendance  of  certain  officers 
bearing  silver  sticks,  native  badges  of  exalted 
rank,  which  were  formerly  adopted  by  many 
of  the  Company's  superior  officers,  but  which 
are  now  conceded  to  no  ^Europeans  in  Bengal 

i  but  the  governor-general,  the  commander  of 
the  forces,  the  chief-justice,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Calcutta.  These  emblems  are  granted  or  re- 
fused to  the  native  houses,  according  to  the 
view  which  the  government  takes  of  their  pre- 
tensions and  deserts,  and  are  as  eagerly  covet- 
ed and  canvassed  for  as  the  stars  and  ribbons 
of  any  European  court.    From  the  palace  of 

I  the  rajah  of  Dacca,  the  Bishop  proceeded  to 
that  of  Meer  Israf  Ali,  the  chief  Mahometan 
gentleman  of  that  district.  We  again  quote 
from  the  Journal. 

"  July  20.— He  is  said  by  Mr.  Master  to 

I  have  been  both  extravagant  and  unfortunate, 
and  therefore  to  be  now  a  good  deal  encum- 


1.56 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


bered.  But  his  landed  property  still  amounts 
to  above  three  hundred  thousand  begahs,  and 
his  family  is  one  of  the  best  (as  a  private  fa- 
mily) in  India.  He  was  himself  absent  at  one 
of  his  other  houses.  But  his  two  eldest  sons 
had  been  very  civil,  and  had  expressed  a  hope 
that  I  would  return  their  visit.  Besides  which, 
I  was  not  sorry  to  see  the  inside  of  this  sort 
of  building.  Meer  Israf  Ali's  house  is  built 
round  a  court-yard,  and  looks  very  much  like 
a  dismantled  convent,  occupied  by  a  corps  of 
Uhlans.  There  are  abundance  of  fine  horses, 
crowds  of  shabby-looking  servants  in  showy 
but  neglected  liveries,  and  on  the  whole  a  sin- 
gular mixture  of  finery  and  carelessness.  The 
two  young  men,  and  a  relation,  as  they  said  he 
was,  who  seemed  to  act  as  their  preceptor  and 
as  their  father's  man  of  business,  received  me 
with  some  surprise,  and  were  in  truth  marvel- 
lously dirty,  and  unfit  to  see  company.  They 
were,  however,  apparently  flattered  and  pleas- 
ed, and  showed  their  good  manners  in  ofl'ering 
no  apologies,  but  leading  me  up  a  very  mean 
staircase  into  their  usual  sitting  rooms,  which 
were  both  better  in  themselves,  and  far  better 
furnished  than  I  expected  from  the  appearance 


MEER  ISRAF  ALL  157 

of  things  below.  After  the  few  first  compli- 
ments, I  had  recourse  to  Abdullah's  interpre- 
tation, and  they  talked  very  naturally,  and 
rather  volubly,  about  the  fine  sport  their  father 
would  show  me  the  next  time  I  came  into  the 
country,  he  having  noble  covers  for  tygers,  leo- 
pards, and  even  wild  elephants.  At  last  out 
came  a  wish  for  silvei'  sticks!  Their  father, 
they  said,  was  not  in  the  habit  of  asking  fa- 
vours from  government,  but  it  was  a  shame 
that  the  baboos  of  Calcutta  should  obtain 
badges  of  nobility,  while  true  Seyuds,  descend- 
ants of  the  prophets,  whose  ancestors  had  never 
known  what  trade  was,  but  had  won  with  their 
swords  from  the  idolaters  the  lands  for  which 
they  now  paid  taxes  to  the  Company,  should 
be  overlooked.  I  could  promise  them  no  help 
here,  and  reminded  them  that  an  old  family 
was  always  respected  whether  it  had  silver 
sticks  or  no,  and  that  an  upstart  was  only 
laughed  at  for  decorations  which  deceived 
nobody.  '  Yes,'  said  the  younger,  '  but  our 
ancestors  used  to  have  silver  sticks,  and  we 
have  got  them  in  the  house  at  this  day.'  I 
said  if  they  could  prove  that,  I  thought  that 
government  would  be  favourable  to  their  re- 
14 


158 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


quest,  but  advised  them  to  consult  Mr.  Master, 
who  Avas  their  father's  intimate  friend.  We 
then  parted,  after  their  bringing  pawn  and  rose 
water  in  a  very  antique  and  elegantly  carved 
bottle,  which  migiit  really  have  belonged  to 
those  days  when  their  ancestors  smote  the  ido- 
laters. Mr.  Master  afterwards  said,  that  if  the 
Meer  himself  had  been  at  home,  I  never  should 
have  been  plagued  with  such  topics;  that  he 
was  a  thorough  gentleman,  and  a  proud  one, 
who  wished  for  the  silver  sticks,  but  would 
never  have  asked  the  interest  of  a  stranger." 

"Jubj  23. — In  the  course  of  our  halt  this  day, 
a  singular  and  painfully  interesting  character 
presented  himself  in  the  person  of  a  Mussul- 
man Fakir,  a  very  elegantly  formed  and  hand- 
some young  man,  of  good  manners,  and  speak- 
ing good  Hindoostanee,  but  with  insanity 
strongly  marked  in  his  eye  and  forehead.  He 
was  very  nearly  naked,  had  a  white  handker- 
chief tied  as  an  ornament  round  his  left  arm, 
a  bright  yellow  rag  hanging  loosely  over  the 
other,  a  little  cornelian  ornament  set  in  silver 
round  his  neck,  a  large  chaplet  of  black  beads, 
and  a  little  wooden  cup  in  his  hand.  He  ask- 
ed my  leave  to  sit  down  on  the  bank  to  watch 


MUSSULMAN  FAKIR. 


159 


what  we  were  doing,  and  said  it  gave  his  heart 
pleasure  to  see  EngUshmen;  tliat  he  was  a 
great  traveller,  had  been  in  Bombay,  Cabul, 
&c.,  and  wanted  to  see  all  the  world,  wherein 
he  was  bound  to  wander  as  long  as  it  lasted. 
I  offered  him  alms,  but  he  refused,  saying,  he 
never  took  money, — that  he  had  had  his  meal 
that  day,  and  wanted  nothing.  He  sat  talking 
wildly  with  the  servants  a  little  longer,  when 
1  again  told  Abdullah  to  ask  him  if  I  could  do 
any  thing  for  him;  he  jumped  up,  laughed, 
said  '  No  pice!'  then  made  a  low  obeisance, 
and  ran  off,  singing  '  La  Illah  ul  Allah!'  His 
manner  and  appearance  nearly  answered  to  the 
idea  of  the  Arab  Mejnoun,  when  he  run  wild 
for  Leila." 

^'July  31. — At  a  neighbouring  village  I  saw 
an  ape  in  a  state  of  liberty,  but  as  tame  as  pos- 
sible, the  favourite,  perhaps  the  deity,  certainly 
the  sacred  animal  of  the  villagers.  He  was 
sitting  in  a  little  bush  as  we  stopped  (to  allow 
the  servants'  boats  to  come  up),  and  on  smell- 
ing dinner,  I  suppose,  for  my  meal  was  getting 
ready,  waddled  gravely  down  to  the  water's 
edge.  He  was  about  the  size  of  a  large  spa- 
niel, enormously  fat,  covered  with  long  silky 


160 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


hair  generally  of  a  rusty  lead  colour,  but  on  his 
breast  a  fine  shot  blue,  and  about  his  buttocks 
and  thighs  gradually  waving  into  a  deep  or- 
ange; he  had  no  tail,  or  one  so  short  that  the 
hair  concealed  it;  he  went  on  all  fours  only.  I 
gave  him  some  toast,  and  my  sirdar-bearer  (a 
Hindoo)  sent  him  a  leaf  full  of  rice.  I  suspect 
he  was  often  in  the  habit  of  receiving  doles  at 
this  spot,  which  is  the  usual  place  for  standing 
across  a  deep  bay  of  the  river,  and  I  certainly 
have  never  yet  seen  a  human  Fakir  in  so  good 
case.  To  ascend  a  tree  must  be  to  a  hermit 
of  his  size  a  work  of  considerable  trouble,  but 
I  suppose  he  does  so  at  night  for  security, 
otherwise  he  would  be  a  magnificent  booty  for 
the  jackalls." — Journal. 

About  this  stage  of  the  progress,  we  find 
inserted  in  the  Bishop's  record  two  copies  of 
verses,  which  we  shall  quote  at  length.  To 
our  fancy  they  are,  in  their  kind,  of  exquisite 
merit;" and,  indeed,  to  speak  plainly,  we  con- 
sider the  second  of  them  as  superior  to  any  of 
Heber's  poems  previously  published — even  to 
"  Palestine." 

"  If  thou  wei  t  by  my  side,  my  love  ! 
Huw  fust  wuulJ  evening  fail 


VERSES  TO  MRS.  IIEBER. 


In  green  Bciigala's  palmy  gi'ovc, 
Listening  tlic  niglitingalo  ! 

'•  If  llioii,  my  love  !  wert  by  my  side, 

My  babies  at  my  knee, 
How  gaily  would  our  pinnace  glide 

O'er  Gmiga's  mimic  sea  ! 

"  I  miss  thee  at  the  dawning  grey, 

When,  on  our  deck  reclined, 
III  careless  ease  my  limbs  1  lay. 
And  woo  the  cooler  w  ind. 

'■  I  miss  thee  when  by  Gunga's  stream 

My  twiliglit  steps  I  guide. 
But  most  beneath  tlie  lamp's  pale  beam 

I  miss  tlicc  from  my  side. 

"  I  spread  my  books,  niy  pencil  lr\. 
The  lingering  nuon  lo  cheeii, 

But  miss  thy  kind  approv  ing  eve, 
Tliy  meek  attentive  ear. 

"  But  w  hen  of  morn  and  eve  the  star 

Beholds  me  on  my  knee, 
I  feel,  though  thou  art  distant  far, 
Thy  prajcrs  ascend  for  me. 

"  'I'licn  on  !  then  on  !  where  duty  leads. 

My  course  be  onward  still. 
O'er  broad  Ilindostan's  sultry  meads, 
O'er  bleak  Ahiiorali'i  liill. 
14*  - 


162  BISHOP  HEBER. 

"  That  course,  nor  Delhi's  kingly  gates. 

Nor  Wild  Malwiili  detain. 
For  sweet  tlie  bliss  us  both  awaits 

By  yonder  western  main. 

"  Thy  towers,  Bombay,  gleam  bright,  they  aaj. 

Across  the  dark  blue  sea, 
But  ne'er  were  hearts  so  light  and  gay 

As  then  shall  meet  in  thee !" 

The  other  is  entitled  "  An  Evening  Walk  in 
Bengal:"  we  know  few  dead  poets,  and  no 
living  one,  who  might  not  be  proud  to  own 
it:— 

"  Our  task  is  done  !  on  Guiiga's  breast 

Tlie  sun  is  sinking  down  to  rest ; 

And,  moored  beneath  the  tamarind  bough. 

Our  baric  has  found  its  harbour  now. 

With  furled  sail,  and  painted  side. 

Behold  the  tiny  frigate  ride. 

Upon  her  deck,  'mid  charcoal  gleams, 

The  Moslems'  savoury  sujjper  steams, 

While  all  apart,  beneath  the  wood. 

The  Hindoo  cooks  his  simpler  food. 

"  Come  «  alk  with  nie  the  jungle  through  ; 

If  yonder  hunter  told  us  true. 

Far  off,  in  desert  dank  and  rude, 

'I'he  tyger  holds  his  solitude  ; 

Nor  (taught  1  y  recent  harm  to  shoi» 

Tlio  tluuiders  of  llie  English  gun,) 


'  EVENING  WALrf  I.N  BENTSAL.' 


16S 


A  dreadful  guost,  Init  rarely  seen, 

Returns  to  scare  the  village  green. 

Come  boldly  on  !  no  venom 'd  snake 

Can  shelter  in  so  cool  a  brake  ; 

Child  of  the  sun  !  he  loves  to  lie 

'iMid  Nature's  embers,  parched  and  di^, 

Where  o'er  some  tower,  in  ruin  laid. 

The  peepul  spreads  its  haunted  shade  ; 

t)r  round  a  tomb  his  scales  to  wreatlie, 

Fit  warder  in  the  gate  of  deatli  ! 

Come  on  !    Yet  jiause  !  Ijehold  us  now 

Beneath  the  bamboo's  arched  bough. 

Where,  gemming  oft  that  sacred  gloom. 

Glows  the  geranium's  scarlet  bloom,* 

And  winds  our  path  through  many  a  bower 

Of  fragrant  tree  and  giant  flower  ; 

The  ceiba's  crimson  pomp  display'd 

O'er  the  broad  plantain's  humbler  shade. 

And  dusk  anana's  prickly  blade  ; 

While  o'er  the  brake,  so  wild  and  fair. 

The  betel  waves  his  crest  in  air. 

With  jiendent  train  and  rushing  wings, 

Aloft  the  gorgeous  peacock  springs  ; 

And  he,  the  bird  of  hundred  dyes, 

^Vhose  plumes  the  dames  of  Ava  prize. 

So  rich  a  shade,  so  green  a  sod, 

Our  English  fairies  never  trod  ; 

*  .\  shrub  whose  deep  scarlet  flowers  very  much  re- 
semble the  geranium,  and  thence  called  the  Indian  gera- 
nium. 


164 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


Vet  who  in  Iihlia's  bow'r  has  stood, 

l$nl  ihoiiglil  on  England's  '  good  green  wood  T 

And  bless'd  Ijcneatli  the  palmy  shade. 

Her  hazel  anil  her  hawthorn  glade, 

And  breath'd  a  jirax  'r,  (how  oft  in  vain  !) 

To  gaze  ujjon  lici'  oaks  again  1 

"  A  truce  to  thoii^lit !  the  jackall's  ery 
Resounds  like  sylvan  re\eh  v  ; 
And  thiongh  the  tree?,  yon  failing  ray 
\\  ill  scantly  serve  to  giude  our  way. 
Yet  mark  !  as  fade  the  upper  skies, 
ICach  thicket  opes  ten  thousand  eyes. 
Before,  beside  us,  and  above. 
The  fire-(ly  lights  his  lamp  of  love, 
Retreating,  chasing,  sinking,  soaring, 
The  darkness  of  the  copse  exploring  ; 
While  to  this  cooler  air  confest, 
'J'he  broad  dhatura  bares  her  breast. 
Of  fragrant  scent  and  vii  gln  white, 
A  pearl  around  the  locks  of  night  ! 
Still  as  we  piu«s,  in  softened  jiuni, 
Alon  j  the  breezy  alleys  come 
The  \illage  song,  the  horn,  the  drum. 
Still  as  v.e  jjass,  from  bush  and  briai'. 
The  shrill  cigala  strikes  his  lyre; 
And,  what  is  she  whose  li(|uid  strain 
Thrills  through  yon  copse  of  sugar-cane  ? 
I  know  that  soul-entrancing  sv.ell  ! 
It  is — it  must  be — Philomel  ! 

"  Enriugh,  enough,  the  rustling  trees 
Announce  a  shower  ujjon  the  luceze, — 


BENARES. 


165 


Tlie  flashes  of  the  summer  sky 
Assume  a  detper,  niildier  die ; 
,  Yon  lamp  tliat  trembles  on  the  stream. 
From  (ovth  our  cabin  sheds  its  beam  ; 
And  we  must  early  sleep,  to  find 
Betimes  the  morning's  healthy  wind. 
But  oh  !  with  thankful  hearts  confess, 
Ev'n  here  tliere  may  be  happiness  ; 
And  He,  the  bounteous  Sire,  has  given 
His  peace  on  earth — his  hope  of  heaven  !" 

We  shall  next  quote  the  Bishop's  most  pic- 
turesque description  of  the  great  ecclesiastical 
capital  of  India — Benares,  a  city  "  more  en- 
tirely and  characteristically  eastern  than  any 
he  had  seen  before." 

"  No  Europeans  (says  he)  live  in  the  town, 
nor  are  the  streets  wide  enough  for  a  wheel-car- 
riage. Mr.  Frazer's  gig  was  stopped  short 
almost  in  its  entrance,  and  the  rest  of  the  way 
was  passed  in  tonjons,  through  alleys  so  crowd- 
ed, so  narrow,  and  so  winding,  that  even  a 
tonjon*  sometimes  passed  with  difficulty.  The 
houses  are  mostly  lofty,  none  I  think  less  than 
two  stories,  most  of  three,  and  several  of  five 
or  six,  a  sight  which  I  now  for  the  first  time 


*  A  species  of  litter. 


166 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


saw  in  India.  The  streets,  like  those  of  Ches- 
ter, are  considerably  lower  than  the  ground- 
floors  of  the  houses,  Avhich  have  mostly  arched 
rows  in  front,  with  little  shops  behind  them. 
Above  these,  the  houses  are  richly  embellish- 
ed with  verandahs,  galleries,  projecting  oriel 
windows,  and  very  broad  and  overhanging 
eaves,  supported  by  carved  brackets.  The 
number  of  temples  is  very  great,  mostly  small, 
and  stuck  like  shrines  in  the  angles  of  the 
streets,  and  under  the  shadow  of  the  lofty 
houses.  Their  forms,  hov/ever,  are  not  un- 
graceful, and  they  are  many  of  them  entirely 
covered  over  with  beautiful  and  elaborate  carv- 
ings of  flowers,  animals,  and  palm-branches, 
equalling  in  minuteness  and  richness  the  best 
specimens  that  I  have  seen  of  Gothic  or  Gre- 
cian architecture.  The  material  of  the  build- 
ings is  a  very  good  stone,  from  Chunar,  but 
the  Hindoos  here  seem  fond  of  painting  them 
a  deep  red  colour,  and,  indeed,  of  covering 
the  more  conspicuous  parts  of  their  houses 
with  paintings  in  gaudy  colours  of  flower-pots, 
men,  women,  bulls,  elephants,  gods  and  god- 
desses, in  all  their  many-formed,  many-headed, 
many-handed,  and  many-weaponed  varieties. 


BENARES. 


167 


The  sacred  bulls  devoted  to  Siva,  of  every 
age,  tame  and  familiar  as  mastiffs,  walk  lazily 
uj)  and  down  these  narrow  streets,  or  are  seen 
lying  across  them,  and  hardly  to  be  kicked  up 
(any  blows,  indeed,  given  them  must  be  of  the 
gentlest  kind,  or  woe  be  to  the  profane  wretch 
who  braves  the  prejudices  of  this  fanatic  popu- 
lation) in  order  to  make  way  for  the  tonjon. 
Monkeys  sacred  to  Hunimaun,  the  divine  ape 
who  conquered  Ceylon  for  Rama,  are  in  some 
parts  of  the  town  equally  numerous,  clinging 
to  all  the  roofs  and  little  projections  of  the  tem- 
ples, putting  their  impertinent  heads  and  hands 
into  every  fruiterer's  or  confectioner's  shop, 
and  snatching  the  food  from  the  children  at 
their  meals.  Fakirs'  houses,  as  they  are  call- 
ed, occur  at  every  turn,  adorned  with  idols, 
and  sending  out  an  unceasing  tinkling  and 
strumming  of  vinals,  biyals,  and  other  discord- 
ant instruments;  while  religious  mendicants  of 
every  Hindoo  sect,  offering  every  conceivable 
deformity,  which  chalk,  cow-dung,  disease, 
matted  locks,  distorted  limbs  and  disgusting  and 
hideous  attitudes  of  penance  can  show,  liter- 
ally line  the  principal  streets  on  both  sides. 
The  number  of  blind  persons  is  very  great  (I 


168 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


was  going  to  say  of  lepers  also,  but  I  am  not 
sure  whether  the  appearance  on  the  skin  may 
not  have  been  filth  and  chalk) ;  and  here  I  saw 
repeated  instances  of  that  penance  of  which  I 
had  heard  much  in  Europe,  of  men  with  their 
legs  or  arms  voluntarily  distorted  by  keeping 
them  in  one  position,  and  their  hands  clench- 
ed till  the  nails  grew  out  at  the  backs.  Their 
pitiful  exclamations  as  we  passed,  '  Agha  Sa- 
hib,' '  Topee  Sahib,'  (the  usual  names  in 
Hindostan  for  an  European), '  khana  kc  waste 
kooch  cheez  do,'  '  give  me  something  to 
eat,'  soon  drew  from  me  what  few  pice  I  had; 
but  it  was  a  drop  of  water  in  the  ocean,  and 
the  importunities  of  the  rest,  as  we  advanced 
into  the  city,  were  almost  drowned  in  the  hub- 
bub which  surrounded  us.  Such  are  the  sights 
and  sounds  which  greet  a  stranger  on  entering 
this  '  the  most  Holy  City'  of  Hindostan, 
'  the  Lotus  of  the  world,  not  founded  on  com- 
mon earth,  but  on  the  point  of  Siva's  trident,' 
a  place  so  blessed,  that  whoever  dies  here,  of 
whatever  sect,  even  though  he  should  be  an 
eater  of  beef,  so  he  will  but  be  charitable  to  the 
poor  Brahmins,  is  sure  of  salvation.  It  is,  in 
fact,  this  very  holiness  which  makes  it  the  com- 


BRITISH  EMPIRE  IN  INDIA. 


169 


mon  resort  of  beggars:  since,  besides  the  num- 
ber of  pilgrims,  which  is  enormous  from  every 
part  of  India,  as  well  as  from  Tibet  and  the 
Birman  Empire,  a  great  multitude  of  rich  in- 
dividuals in  the  decline  of  life,  and  almost  all 
the  great  men  who  are  from  time  to  time  dis- 
graced or  banished  from  home  by  the  revolu- 
tions which  are  continually  occurring  in  the 
Hindoo  states,  come  hither  to  w^sh  away  their 
sins,  or  to  fill  up  their  vacant  hours  with  the 
gaudy  ceremonies  of  their  religion,  and  really 
give  away  great  sums  in  profuse  and  indiscri- 
minate charity." 

The  interior  of  one  of  the  innumerable  tem- 
ples of  the  holy  city  is  thus  given: — 

"  The  temple-court,  (says  Heber)  small  as 
it  is,  is  crowded  like  a  farm-yard  with  very  fat 
and  very  tame  bulls,  which  thrust  their  noses 
into  every  body's  hand  and  pocket  for  gram 
and  sweetmeats,  which  their  fellow-votaries 
give  them  in  great  quantities.  The  cloisters 
are  no  less  full  of  naked  devotees,  as  hideous 
as  chalk  and  dung  can  make  them,  and  the 
continued  hum  of  '  Ram!  Ram!  Ram!  Ram!' 
is  enough  to  make  a  stranger  giddy.  The 
place  is  kept  very  clean,  however, — indeed 
15 


no 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


the  priests  seem  to  do  little  else  than  pour 
water  over  the  images  and  the  pavement,  and 
I  found  them  not  merely  willing,  but  anxious 
to  show  me  every  thing, — frequently  repeating 
that  they  were  Padres  also,  though  it  is  true 
that  they  used  this  circumstance  as  an  argu- 
ment for  my  giving  them  a  present." 

We  are  happy  to  observe,  in  the  general, 
that  the  scope  and  tendency  of  the  Bishop's 
remarks  and  reflections  on  India  are  decidedly 
favourable.  The  obvious  defects  of  the  pre- 
sent system  of  police,  and  judicial  administra- 
tion in  India,  are  commented  on  with  justice 
— never  in  the  tone  of  exaggerated  feeling. 
The  character,  dispositions,  and  capabilities 
of  our  native  subjects,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
treated  in  a  manner  which  will  give  little  satis- 
faction to  those  proud  and  haughty  bigots  of 
Europeanism,  who  have,  in  many  cases,  been 
suffered  to  exert  a  most  perilous  degree  of  in- 
fluence over  the  destinies  of  that  immense 
empire.  He  does  not  lend  his  canvass  exclu- 
sively either  to  the  lights  or  the  shades  of  the 
living  picture  before  him — but  transfers  it 
faithfully  with  all  its  features  ;  and  pronounces 
that,  upon  the  whole,  in  the  midst  of  much 


BRITISH  EMPIRE   IN  INDIA. 


171 


(hat  is  dark,  doubtful,  and  melancholy,  the 
predominant  feeling,  with  which  it  deserves  to 
be  contemplated,  is  the  cheering  and  stimula- 
ting one  of  hope.  That  the  British  sway  has, 
in  the  main — looking  to  the  whole  country  and 
the  population  in  the  mass — been  productive 
of  good  to  India,  he  distinctly  asserts  ;  and  he 
adduces  evidence  which  cannot,  we  think, 
leave  it  in  the  power  of  any  honest  man  to  dis- 
sent from  that  opinion.  That  it  has  degraded 
and  impoverished  certain  classes  of  the  popu- 
lation all  over  India,  and,  through  them,  es- 
sentially injured  some  particular  districts  of 
the  country,  he  as  distinctly  confesses.  That 
we  ought  to  look  to  India  with  an  eye  of  ex- 
treme watchfulness  is  an  inference  which  he 
presses  continually.  If  we  do  so — if  we  per- 
severe in  a  course  of  conduct,  which,  as  gra- 
dually but  sensibly  bettering  the  condition  of 
the  great  mass  of  the  people,  presents  the 
fairest  prospect  of  overbalancing  the  admitted 
elements  of  danger  inherent  in  certain  classes 
of  the  population  as  they  now  stand — and  at 
the  same  time  show  readiness  to  improve  the 
condition  of  those  classes  themselves,  when- 
ever it  is  possible  to  do  so  with  safety  to  our 


172 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


own  interest — it"  this  be  the  Hne  of  conduct 
pursued  steadily  in  India,  the  Bisliop  has  no 
nervous  apprehensions  whatever  as  to  the  per- 
manence of  our  empire.  That  such  an  empire 
should  remain,  for  an  indefinite  course  of  time, 
in  the  relation  of  a  colonial  or  quasi-colonial 
appendage  to  a  kingdom  so  remote  as  this,  his 
lordship  was  not  likely  to  dream.  But  that, 
under  a  firm,  paternal,  and  liberal  system  of 
government,  the  industry  of  India  may  be 
stimulated  to  an  extent  hitherto  unimagined  ; 
the  character  of  her  people  raised  and 
strengthened  ;  their  prejudices,  even  their  re- 
ligious prejudices,  slowly,  indeed,  but  surely 
overcome  ;  and,  in  a  word,  the  whole  condition 
of  these  enormous  regions  so  altered  and  im- 
proved, that  their  political  separation  from 
Great  Britain  might  be  another  name  for  the 
admission  of  several  great  independent  states 
into  the  social  system  of  the  civilized  world, 
and  even  of  the  Christian  world — these  are 
prospects  which,  after  duly  weighing  what  has 
already  been  done,  the  rational  and  compre- 
hensive intellect  of  Heber  appears  to  have 
considered  as  neither  visionary  nor  absurd. 
On  passing  Mirzapoor,  a  city  the  impor- 


BRITISH  EMPIRE  I.N  IXDIA. 


173 


tancc  of  which  dates  entirely  from  the  csta- 
blisiiment  of  the  English  government,  and 
which  now  exhibits  a  population  of  from  two 
to  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  en- 
gaged in  traffic  to  a  great  extent,  enjoying, 
apparently,  ease,  comfort,  and  independence, 
and  surrounded  with  new  buildings  of  all  sorts, 
as  splendid  as  are  to  be  seen  anywhere  out  of 
Calcutta,  the  Bishop  pauses  to  say — 

"  This  is,  indeed,  a  most  rich  and  striking 
land.  Here,  in  the  space  of  little  more  than 
two  hundred  miles,  along  the  same  river,  I 
have  passed  si.K  towns,  none  of  them  less 
populous  than  Chester, — two  (Patna  and  Mir- 
zapoor)  more  so  than  Birmingham  ;  and  one, 
Benares,  more  peopled  than  any  city  in  Eu- 
rope, except  London  and  Paris  !  And  this  be- 
sides villages  innumerable.  I  observed  to 
Mr.  Archdeacon  Corrie,  that  I  had  expected 
to  find  agriculture  in  Hindostan  in  a  flourish- 
ing state,  but  the  great  cities  ruined,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  ruin  of  the  Mussulman  nobles. 
He  answered,  that  certainly  very  many  ancient 
families  had  gone  to  decay,  but  he  did  not 
think  the  gap  had  been  ever  perceptible  in  his 
time,  in  this  part  of  India,  since  it  had  been 
15* 


174 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


more  than  filled  up  by  a  new  order  rising  fi  om 
the  middling  classes,  whose  wealth  had,  dur- 
ing his  recollection,  increased  very  greatly. 
Far,  indeed,  from  those  cities  which  we  had 
already  passed  decaying,  most  of  them  had 
much  increased  in  the  number  of  their  houses, 
and,  in  what  is  a  sure  sign  of  wealth  in  India, 
the  number  and  neatness  of  their  ghats  and 
temples,  since  he  was  last  here.    Nothing,  he 
said,  was  plainer  to  him,  from  the  multitude 
of  little  improvements  of  this  kind,  of  small 
temples  and  Bungalows,  partly  in  the  Euro- 
pean style,  but  obviously  inhabited  by  natives, 
that  wealth  was  becoming   more  abundant 
among  the  middling  ranks,  and  that  such  of 
them  as  are  rich  are  not  afraid  of  appearing 
so.    The  great  cities  in  the  Dooab,  he  said, 
were  indeed  scenes  of  desolation.    The  whole 
country  round  Delhi  and  Agra,  when  he  first 
saw  it,  was  filled  with  the  marble  ruins  of  vil- 
las, mosques,  and  palaces,  with  the  fragments 
of  tanks  and  canals,  and  the  vestiges  of  inclo- 
sures.    But  this  ruin  had  occurred  before  the 
British  arms  had  extended  thus  far,  and  while 
the  country  was  under  the  tyranny  and  never- 
ending  invasions  of  the  Persians,  Affghans, 


BRITISH  EMPIRE   IN  INDIA. 


175 


and  Maharattas.  Even  here  a  great  innprove- 
tnent  had  taken  place  before  he  left  Agra,  and 
he  hoped  to  find  a  much  greater  on  his  return. 
He  apprehended  that,  on  the  whole,  all  India 
had  gained  under  British  rule,  except,  perhaps, 
Dacca  and  its  neighbourhood,  where  the  ma- 
nufactures had  been  nearly  ruined." 

Higher  up,  at  Wallahabad,  the  intelligent 
collector  of  the  district,  Mr.  Ward,  introduced 
to  the  Bishop  the  zemindar  of  the  district,  a 
Mahometan  gentleman,  of  high  family  and  re- 
spectable character,  and  a  very  interesting 
conversation  ensued.  The  Bishop  happened 
to  introduce  the  subject  of  field  sports  : 

"  I  observed  (says  Heber)  that  there  was 
much  jungle  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  asked 
if  there  were  any  tygers.  '  Tygers  !  No,' 
said  he,  '  not  for  several  years  back  ;  and  as 
for  jungle,  there  is  three  times  as  much  culti- 
vated land  now  as  there  used  to  be  under  the 
government  of  the  vizier.  Then  there  were 
tygers  in  plenty,  and  more  than  plenty  ;  but 
there  are  better  things  than  tygers  now,  such 
as  corn-fields,  villages,  and  people."'  .... 
"  It  is  curious  and  interesting  to  find  both  the 
apparently  progressive  improvement  of  the 


I 


176 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


country  under  the  British  government,  as  con- 
trasted with  its  previous  state,  and  also  how 
soon,  and  how  easily,  in  a  settled  country,  the 
most  formidable  wild  animals  become  extinct 
before  the  power  of  man.  The  tyger  will  soon 
be  almost  as  great  a  rarity  in  our  eastern  as 
in  our  western  dominions  :  the  snake,  how- 
ever, will  hold  his  ground  loiiger." 

Still  higher  up  the  country,  not  far  from 
Cawnpore,  we  find  the  Bishop  writing  as  fol- 
lows : — 

"  The  day  was  fine,  and  though  the  roads 
were  in  a  very  bad  state,  it  was  dehghtful  to 
hear  the  mutual  congratulations  of  our  bearers 
and  the  villagers  whom  we  passed,  both  parties 
full  of  thankfulness  to  God,  and  considering 
themselves,  with  apparent  reason,  as  delivered 
from  famine  and  all  its  horrors.  One  of  these 
mutual  felicitations,  M'hich  the  Archdeacon 
overheard  the  day  before,  was  very  interest- 
ing, as  it  was  not  intended  for  his  ear,  and  was 
one  of  the  strongest  proofs  I  have  met  with  of 
the  satisfaction  of  the  Hindoos  with  their  ru^ 
lers.  '  A  good  rain  this  for  the  bread,'  said 
one  of  the  villagers  to  the  other.  '  Yes,' 
was  the   an3'.ver,  '  and  a  good  government, 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  HINDOOS. 


177 


under  which  a  man  may  eat  bread  in  safety.' 
While  such  a  f'eehng  prevails,  wc  may  have 
good  hopes  of  the  stability  of  our  Indian  go- 
vernment." 

We  might  quote  a  dozen  passages  more  of 
the  same  cast  and  tendency. 

To  us  the  most  painful  subject  the  Bishop 
touches  on,  and  he  does  so  frequently  in  a 
very  affecting  manner,  is  the  levity,  to  give  it 
no  worse  name,  with  which  our  young  and 
thoughtless  countrymen  often  trifle  with  the 
feelings  of  the  natives.  Its  danger  is  as  obvi- 
ous as  its  vice.  Let  one  example  serve  :  he 
met  a  military  officer  voyaging  up  the  Ganges, 
who  made  it  his  boast  that,  whenever  his  cook- 
boat  hung  behind,  he  fired  at  it  with  ball. 
The  gentleman,  no  doubt,  took  care  to  shoot 
high  ;  but  such  tricks  cannot  be  practised 
without  e-xciting  bitter  anger  at  the  time,  and 
leaving  a  lasting  impression  of  disgust.  It  is 
delightful  to  turn  from  such  incidents  to  the 
many  specimens  he  gives  of  the  gratefulness 
with  which  the  poor  natives  receive  the  kind- 
ness of  their  European  superiors.  Talking  of 
his  own  numerous  attendants  generally,  the 
Bishop  says  he  found  them  susceptible,  in  a 


178 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


high  degree,  of  those  amiable  feelings,  which, 
no  question,  the  habitual  conduct  and  demea- 
nour of  their  kind-hearted  master  were  singu- 
larly calculated  to  call  Ibrth.  On  one  occasion 
a  boy  brought  a  httle  leveret  to  the  side  of  his 
horse,  and  when  he  reproved  him  for  meddling 
with  a  poor  animal  much  too  young  to  be  of 
any  use  at  the  table,  and  directed  one  of  his 
own  servants  to  see  that  it  was  put  back  again, 
as  nearly  as  possible  on  the  spot  where  it  had 
been  lifted,  the  whole  crowd  of  grooms  and 
bearers  burst  out  with  blessings  on  his  head. 
Another  time  when  he  interfered,  to  prevent 
a  horse's  tail  being  docked,  observing  that 
"  Go  had  bestowed  on  no  animal  a  limb  too 
much,  or  which  tended  to  its  disadvantage, 
the  speech"  (says  he)  "  seemed  to  chime  in 
wonderfully  with  the  feelings  of  most  of  my 
hearers  ;  and  one  very  old  man  observed  that, 
during  the  twenty-two  years  the  English  had 
held  the  district,  he  had  not  heard  so  grave 
and  godly  a  saying  from  any  of  them."  "  I 
thought  of  Sancho  Panza  (adds  the  modest 
bishop)  and  his  wise  sayings,  and  regretted 
that,  with  my  present  knowledge  of  their  lan- 
guage, I  could  not  tell  them  any  thing  really 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  HINDOOS.  179 

worth  their  hearing."  Such  things,  however, 
were  probably  as  profitably  heard  as  more  for- 
mal lessons  might  have  been.  His  lordship's 
attendants,  in  their  progress  up  the  river,  were 
often  coming  and  asking  leave  of  absence  for 
a  day  or  two,  to  visit  parents  or  kindred  resi- 
ding near  the  banks.  He  gained  much  favour 
by  the  readiness  with  which  he  listened  to 
such  demands  :  the  kindness  seems  never  to 
have  been  abused  ;  and  on  one  occasion  he  had 
the  gratification  to  ascertain  that  an  advance  of 
a  month's  wages  had  been  converted  solely  to 
the  use  and  benefit  of  a  poor  groom's  aged  fa- 
ther and  mother.  A  touching  incident  occurs 
very  early  in  the  voyage  :  he  finds  that  a  boat- 
man set  apart  every  day  a  certain  portion  of  his 
rice,  and  bestowed  it  on  the  birds,  saying,  '  It 
is  not  I,  but  my  child  that  feeds  you.'  He  had 
lost  an  only  son  some  years  before,  and  the  boy 
|{  ^having  been  in  the  custom  of  feeding  the  birds 
in  this  way,  the  parent  never  omitted  doing  so 
at  sunset,  in  his  name.  These  are  not  peoplo 
of  whose  feelings  men  can  make  light  with 
impunity. 

How  well  they  appreciate,  and  how  lasting- 
*  ly  they  remember,  the  benefits  conferred  on 


180 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


them  by  kind  and  judicious  functionaries,  may 
be  gathered  from  many  examples  scattered 
over  Heber's  journal.  Thus,  at  Allahabad, 
when  he  asked,  with  a  natural  curiosity,  which 
of  the  governors  of  India  stood  highest  in  the 
good  opinion  of  the  'people,  he  found  that, 
though  Lord  Wellesley  and  Warren  Hastings 
were  honoured  as  "  the  two  greatest  men  that 
had  ever  ruled  this  part  of  the  world,"  the 
people  universally  "  spoke  with  much  affection 
of  Mr.  Johnathan  Duncan." — "  Duncan  Sa- 
hib hhachola  baee;  i.  e.  Mr.  Duncan's  young- 
er brother,  is  still,"  he  says,  "  the  usual  term 
of  praise  applied  to  any  public  man  who  ap- 
pears to  be  actuated  by  an  unusual  spirit  of 
kindness  towards  their  nation."  Again,  at 
Boglipoor,  he  found  the  memory  of  Judge 
Cleveland,  who  died  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
nine,  in  1784,  still  fresh  in  honour:  this  able 
and  eminent  man  did  much  for  that  district; 
he  improved  its  husbandry,  established  ba- 
zaars, and,  above  all,  instituted  a  police,  which 
has  been  found  lastingly  effective  in  a  region 
formerly  noted  for  disorders.  When  he  died, 
the  chiefs  of  the  hill  country  and  the  Mussul- 
man gentry  of  the  plain  joined  their  contribu- 


PREJUDICES  DIMINIIHING. 


181 


tions  to  erect  a  stately  monument  over  his 
grave: 

"  As  being  raised  to  the  memory  of  a  Chris- 
tian, (says  Heber,)  it  is  called  a  Griege,  i.  e. 
a  church;  and  the  people  still  meet  once  a 
year  in  considerable  numbers,  and  have  a 
Poojah,  or  religious  spectacle,  in  honour  of 
his  memory." 

Both  Hindoos  and  Moslem  have  since  con- 
tributed largely  to  pay  similar  honours  to  He- 
ber himself ;  and  his  name,  too.  Christian 
bishop  as  he  was,  will  be  remembered  in  poo- 
jahs  of  its  own. 

Of  the  slow  but  distinct  and  undeniable 
diminution  of  the  Anti-Christian  prejudices  of 
the  natives,  we  have  already  had  occasion  to 
cite  some  proofs ;  we  may  here  throw  together 
a  few  of  the  many  notices  to  the  same  purport 
which  occur  in  the  earlier  part  of  Heber's  In- 
dian Journal.  At  vol.  i.  p.  219,  (quarto  edi- 
tion,) we  find  Archdeacon  Corrie  applied  to 
by  a  Brahmin  of  high  rank,  and,  it  is  impor- 
portant  to  add,  of  much  wealth,  "  to  grant 
him  an  interview,  that  he  might  receive  in- 
struction in  Christianity;"  and,  on  the  bish- 
op's expressing  some  surprise  at  this  occur- 
16 


182 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


rence,  the  archdeacon  answers,  "  This  is  not 
the  only  indication  I  have  met  with  in  this 
quarter,  of  persons  who  seem  not  unwilling  to 
inquire  into  religious  subjects. — One  of  the 
hill-people  at  the  school  has  declared,  of  his 
own  accord,  his  intention  of  giving  up  Sunday 
to  the  worship  of  God;  and  there  are  several 
Hindoos  and  Mussulmans,  who  make  no  ob- 
jection to  eat  victuals  prepared  by  Christians, 
saying,  that  they  think  the  Christians  are  as 
pure  as  themselves,  and  they  are  sure  they 
are  wiser." 

At  p.  288,  where  the  bishop  is  describing 
his  visitation  of  the  schools  established  for  the 
native  youth  at  Benares,  in  which  the  Gospels 
are  used  as  a  school-book,  we  find  the  very 
able  and  intelligent  governor  of  the  place, 
who  accompanied  his  lordship,  stating  as  fol- 
lows:— "  That  they  had  every  reason  to  think 
that  all  the  bigger  boys,  and  many  of  the 
lesser  ones,  brought  up  at  these  schools,  learn- 
ed to  despise  idolatry  and  the  Hindoo  faith, 
less  by  any  direct  precept,  for  their  teachers 
never  name  the  subject  to  them,  and  in  the 
Gospels,  which  are  the  only  strictly  religious 
books  read,  there  are  few,  if  any,  allusions  to 


TRAVELLING  IN  INDIA. 


183 


it,  than  from  the  disputations  of  the  Mussul- 
man and  Hindoo  boys  among  themselves,  from 
the  comparison  which  they  soon  learn  to  make 
between  the  system  of  worship  which  they 
themselves  follow  and  ours,  and  above  all, 
from  the  enlargement  of  mind  which  general 
knowledge  and  the  pure  morality  of  the  Gos- 
pel have  a  tendency  to  produce.  Many,  both 
boys  and  girls,  have  asked  for  Baptism,  but  it 
has  been  always  thought  right  to  advise  them 
to  wait  till  they  had  their  parents'  leave,  or 
were  old  enough  to  judge  for  themselves;  and 
many  have,  of  their  own  accord,  begun  daily 
to  use  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  to  desist  from 
showing  any  honour  to  the  image.  Their  pa- 
rents seem  extremely  indifferent  to  their  con- 
duct in  this  respect.  Prayer,  or  outward 
adoration,  is  not  essential  to  caste.  A  man 
may  believe  what  he  pleases,  nay,  I  under- 
stand, he  may  almost  say  what  he  pleases, 
without  the  danger  of  losing  it,  and  so  long  as 

i  they  are  not  baptized,  neither  eat  nor  drink  in 
company  with  Christians  or  Pariars,  all  is 
well  in  the  opinion  of  the  great  majority,  even 

I     in  Benares." 

And  lastly,  at  p.  514,  we  find  the  Bishop 


184 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


himself  recording  his  observation,  after  he  had 
visited  the  country  from  Calcutta  to  Meerut, 
that  in  many  places  "  a  sort  of  regard  seemed 
to  be  paid  to  the  Sabbath  by  the  natives."  And 
the  particular  instance  that  suggests  the  re- 
mark points  to  some  Brahmins. — 

"  Of  the  way  of  performing  these  long  jour- 
neys in  India,  I  was  myself  (says  the  Bishop, 
in  one  of  his  letters  to  Mr.  Wilmot  Horton) 
very  imperfectly  informed  before  I  came  here; 
and,  even  then,  it  was  long  before  I  could  be- 
lieve how  vast  and  cumbersome  an  apparatus 
of  attendance  and  supplies  of  every  kind  was 
necessary,  to  travel  in  any  degree  of  comfort 
or  security.  On  the  river,  indeed,  so  long  as 
that  lasted,  our  progress  was  easy  and  plea- 
sant, (bating  a  little  heat  ar.ri  a  few  storms,) 
carried  on  by  a  strong  south-eastern  breeze, 
in  a  very  roomy  and  comfortable  boat,  against 
the  stream  of  a  majestic  body  of  water,  with 
a  breadth,  during  the  rainy  season,  so  high  up 
as  Patra,  of  from  six  to  nine  miles,  and  even 
above  Patra,  as  far  as  Cawnpore,  in  no  place 
narrower  than  the  Mersey  opposite  Liverpool. 
But  it  is  after  leaving  the  Ganges  for  the  land 
journey,  that,  if  not  the  tug,  yet  no  small  part 


TRAVELLING  IN   INDIA.  185 

of  the  apparalus^  provenlus,  el  commealus  of 
war,  commences.  It  has  been  my  wish,  on 
many  accounts,  to  travel  without  unnecessary 
display.  My  tents,  equipments,  and  number 
of  servants,  are  all  on  the  smallest  scale  which 
comfort  or  propriety  would  admit  of.  They 
all  fall  short  of  what  are  usually  taken  by  the 
collectors  of  districts;  and  in  comparison  of 
what  the  commander-in-chief  had  with  him 
the  year  before  last,  I  have  found  people  dis- 
posed to  cry  out  against  them  as  quite  insuffi- 
cient. Nor  have  I  asked  for  a  single  soldier 
or  trooper  beyond  what  the  commanding  offi- 
cers of  districts  have  themselves  offered  as 
necessary  and  suitable.  Yet,  for  myself  and 
Dr.  Smith,  the  united  numbers  amount  to 
three  elephants,  above  twenty  cameLs,  five 
horses,  besides  ponies  for  our  principal  ser- 
vants, twenty-six  servants,  twenty-six  bearers 
of  burdens,  fifteen  clashees  to  pitch  and  re- 
move tents,  elephant  and  camel  drivers,  I  be- 
lieve, thirteen;  and  since  we  have  left  the 
Company's  territories  and  entered  Rajapoo- 
tam,  a  guard  of  eighteen  irregular  horse, 
and  forty-five  sipahees  on  foot,  includmg  na- 
tive officers.  Nor  is  this  all;  for  there  is  a 
16* 


186 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


number  of  petty  tradesmen  and  other  poor 
people,  Vt'hose  road  is  the  same  as  ours,  and 
who  have  asked  permission  to  encamp  near 
us,  and  travel  under  our  protection;  so  that 
yesterday,  when  I  found  it  expedient,  on  ac- 
count of  the  scarcity  which  prevails  in  these 
provinces,  to  order  an  allowance  of  flour,  by 
way  of  Sunday  dinner,  to  every  person  in 
camp,  the  number  of  heads  was  returned  one 
hundred  and  sixty-five.  With  all  these  formi- 
dable numbers,  you  must  not,  however,  sup- 
pose that  any  exorbitant  luxury  reigns  in  niy 
tent;  our  fare  is,  in  fact,  as  homely  as  any 
two  formers  in  England  sit  down  to;  and,  if 
it  be  sometimes  exnberant,  the  fault  must  be 
laid  on 'a  country  where  we  must  take  a  whole 
sheep  or  kid,  if  we  would  have  animal  Ibod  at 
all,  and  whore  neither  sheep  nor  kid  will, 
when  killed,  remain  eatable  more  than  a  dav 
or  two.  Tiic  truth  is,  that  where  people  car- 
ry every  thing  with  them,  tent,  bed,  furniture, 
wine,  beer,  and  crockery,  ior  six  months  to- 
gether, no  small  (piaiitity  of  beasts  of  ljurden 
may  well  be  supposed  necessary;  and  in  coun- 
tries such  as  those  which  I  have  now  been 
traversing,  where  every  man  is  armed;  whcra 


PREACHES   AT  BENARES. 


187 


every  third  or  fourth  man,  a  few  years  since, 
was  a  tiiief  by  profession;  and  where,  in  spite 
of  English  influence  and  supremacy,  tlie  for- 
ests, mountains,  and  multitudes  of  petty  sove- 
reignties, aflbrd  all  possible  scope  for  the  prac- 
tical application  of  Wordsworth's  '  good  old 
rule,' — you  may  believe  me,  that  it  is  neither 
pomp  nor  cowardice  which  has  thus  fenced 
your  friend  in  with  spears,  shields,  and  bayo- 
nets."* 

In  the  course  of  this  arduous  pilgrimage 
from  Calcutta  to  Bombay,  he  found  occasions 
for  preaching  upwards  of  fifty  times;  and  the 
sermon  delivered  on  one  of  those  occasions, 
at  the  consecration  of  a  church  near  Benares, 
was  printed  at  the  request  of  the  Europeans 
who  heard  it;  and,  though  bearing  marks  of 
having  been  written  in  haste,  fully  justifies 
tlieir  discernment  in  having  made  that  re- 
quest. The  following  passage  has  much  of 
the  pecuhar  manner  of  the  author  of  Pales- 
tine : — 

"  Ifthe  Israehtes  were  endowed,  beyond  the 
nations  of  mankind,  with  wise  and  righteous 

*  Letter  dated  liaiitcliar,  ((iii/.erat,)  March,  14,  1825. 


188 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


lawg^  vvith  a  fertile  and  almost  impregnable 
territory,  with  a  race  of  valiant  and  victorious 
kings,  and  a  God  who  (while  they  kept  his 
ways)  was  a  wall  of  fire  against  their  enemies 
round  about  them;  if  the  kings  of  the  wilder- 
ness did  them  homage,  and  the  lion-banner  of 
David  and  Solomon  was  reflected  at  once 
from  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Euphrates — • 
it  was,  that  the  way  of  the  Lord  might  be 
made  known  by  their  means  upon  earth,  and 
that  the  saving  health  of  the  Messiah  might 
become  conspicuous  to  all  nations. 

"  My  brethren,  it  has  pleased  the  Almighty, 
that  the  nation  to  which  we  ourselves  belong, 
is  a  great,  a  valiant,  and  an  understanding  na- 
tion; it  has  pleased  Him  to  give  us  an  em- 
pire, in  which  the  sun  never  sets — a  commerce 
by  which  the  remotest  nations  of  the  earth  are 
become  our  allies,  our  tributaries,  I  had  almost 
said  our  neighbours;  and  by  means  (when  re- 
garded as  human  means,  and  distinct  from  his 
mysterious  providence)  so  inadequate,  as  to 
excite  our  alarm  as  well  as  wonder,  the  sove- 
reignty over  these  wide  and  populous  heathen 
lands.  But  is  it  for  our  sakes  that  he  has 
given  us  these  good  gifts,  and  wrought  these 


PREACHES   AT  BENARES. 


189 


great  marvels  in  our  favour?  Are  we  not 
rather  set  up  on  high  in  the  earth,  that  we  may 
show  forth  the  light  by  which  we  are  guided, 
and  be  the  honoured  instruments  of  diffusing 
those  blessings  which  we  ourselves  enjoy, 
through  every  land  where  our  will  is  law, 
through  every  tribe  where  our  wisdom  is  held 
in  reverence,  and  in  every  distant  isle  which 
our  winged  vessels  visit  ?  If  we  value,  then, 
(as  who  does  not  value?)  our  renown  among 
mankind;  if  we  exult  (as  who  can  help  exult- 
ing?) in  the  privileges  which  the  providence  of 
God  has  conferred  on  the  British  nation;  if 
we  are  thankful  (and  God  forbid  we  should  be 
otherwise)  for  the  means  of  usefulness  in  our 
power;  and  if  we  love  (as  who  does  not  love?) 
our  native  land,  its  greatness  and  prosperity, — 
let  us  see  that  we,  each  of  us  in  our  station, 
are  promoting  to  the  best  of  our  power,  by  ex- 
ample, by  exertion,  by  liberality,  by  the  prac- 
tice of  Christian  justice  and  every  virtue,  the 
extention  of  God's  truth  among  men,  and  the 
honour  of  that  holy  name  whereby  we  are 
called.  There  have  been  realms  before  as 
famous  as  our  own,  and  (in  relation  to  the  then 
extent  and  riches  of  the  civilized  world)  as 


190 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


powerful  and  as  wealthy,  of  which  the  traveller 
sees  nothing  now  but  ruins  in  the  midst  of  a 
wilderness,  or  where  the  mariner  only  finds  a 
rock  for  fishers  to  spread  their  nets.  Nineveh 
once  reigned  over  the  East;  but  where  is 
Nineveh  now  ?  Tyre  had  once  the  commerce 
of  the  world;  but  what  is  become  of  Tyre? 
But  if  the  repentance  of  Nineveh  had  been  per- 
severed in,  her  towers  would  have  stood  to 
this  day.  Had  the  daughter  of  Tyre  brought 
her  gills  to  the  Temple  of  God,  she  would 
have  continued  a  Queen  forever." 

This  visitation  gave  the  Bishop  an  oppor- 
tunity of  ascertaining  the  state  and  wants  of 
the  Christian  congregations  in  the  northern 
districts  of  his  diocese,  where  in  four  principal 
places,  Benares,  Chunar,  Merut,  and  Agra, 
he  had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  service  per- 
formed in  Hindostanee  according  to  the  Lit- 
urgy of  the  English  Church;  it  also  brought 
him  acquainted  with  a  race  of  men  of  a  cha- 
racter far  more  manly  than  the  Bengalese, 
dwelling, under  native  chiefs,  among  the  moun- 
tains near  Rajemahel,  in  the  province  of  Bahar 
— not  divided  into  castes,  indifferent  to  the 
idolatries  of  the  plains,  and  on  every  account 


CHRISTIAN  CONGREGATIONS.  191 


offering,  as  the  Bishop  thought,  a  very  pro- 
mising field  for  Christian  teachers.  He  ac- 
cordingly (by  way  of  beginning)  fixed  a  mis- 
sionary at  Boglipore,  a  place  affording  local 
advantages  for  the  establishment  of  schools, 
for  learning  the  language,  and  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  the  heads  of  these  clans,  who 
appear  to  be  a  primitive  race,  protected  by 
their  fastnesses  from  much  contact  or  inter- 
course with  the  invaders  that,  from  time  to 
time,  have  made  India  their  own.  The  Bishop 
entertained  a  very  sanguine  hope  that  a  con- 
version of  no  ordinary  extent  would  be  thus 
effected,  and  regarded  the  beginning  thus  made 
as  doubly  important,  on  account  of  the  con- 
nectijon  which,  in  all  probability,  exists  between 
these  tribes  and  the  Goands  and  other  nations 
of  central  India,  whom  they  are  said  strongly 
to  resemble  in  habits  and  character. 

In  a  letter  to  one  of  his  friends,  written  at 
the  close  of  this  extensive  journey,  the  Bishop 
distinctly  expresses  his  satisfaction  that  he  had 
never,  in  the  whole  course  of  it,  turned  either 
to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left  for  the  sake  of 
gratifying  curiosity — that  he  had  travelled  in 
his  episcopal  capacity,  and  allowed  no  other 


192 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


objects  to  interfere  with  those  which  were 
pressed  on  him  by  the  character  of  his  func- 
tions. But  no  accomplished  Englishman,  far 
less  a  deeply  read  and  deeply  thinking  scholar 
like  Heber,  could  traverse  these  regions  with- 
out having  his  attention  called  to  many  objects, 
which  may  not,  at  first  sight,  appear  to  have 
been,  in  his  case,  professional.  The  whole 
state  and  condition,  however,  of  the  Indian 
population,  it  was,  in  fact,  most  strictly  and 
sacredly  his  duty  to  study;  and  how  success- 
fully he  carried  his  talents  to  this  obiect  we 
have  in  our  power  to  show,  by  some  passages 
from  his  MS.  correspondence.  The  letter, 
from  which  we  are  about  to  quote,  was  written 
in  March,  1825;  and  addressed  to  one  of  his 
oldest  and  most  intimate  friends, — a  gentle- 
man, not  of  his  own  profession,  but  engaged  in 
the  business  of  the  world,  and  the  duties  of  a 
high  public  station.* 

"  Though  the  greater  part  of  the  Company's 
provinces  (except  Kumaoon)  are  by  no  means 
abundant  in  objects  of  natural  beauty  or  curi- 
osity, the  prospect  offering  little  else  than  an 

*  Right  Hon.  R.  W.  Horton,  tlien  Under-Secretary  of 
State  in  tlie  Colonial  Department. 


LETTER  TO  MR.  HORTOX. 


193 


uniform  plain  of  slovenly  cultivation,  yet,  in 
the  character  and  manners  of  the  people,  there 
is  much  which  may  be  studied  with  interest  and 
amusement;  and  in  the  yet  remaining  speci- 
men of  oriental  luxury  and  pomp  at  Lucknow; 
in  the  decayed,  but  most  striking  and  romantic, 
magnificence  of  Delhi;  and  in  the  Taj-Mahal 
of  Agra,  (doubtless  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
buildings  in  the  world,)  there  is  almost  enough, 
even  of  themselves,  to  make  it  Avorth  a  man's 
while  to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  India  Oceans. 

"  Since  then  I  have  been  in  countries  of  a 
wilder  character,  comparatively  seldom  trodden 
by  Europeans,  exempt  during  the  greater  part 
of  their  history  from  the  Mussulman  yoke,  and 
retaining  accordingly  a  great  deal  of  the  sim- 
plicity of  early  Hindoo  manners,  without  much 
of  that  solemn  and  pompous  uniformity  which 
the  conquests  of  the  house  of  Timur  seem  to 
have  impressed  on  all  classes  of  their  subjects. 
Yet  here  there  is  much  which  is  interesting 
and  curious.  The  people,  who  are  admirably 
described  (though  I  think  in  too  favourable 
colours)  by  Malcolm,  in  his  Central  India,  are 
certainly  a  lively,  animated,  and  warlike  race 
of  men,  though,  chiefly  from  their  wretched 
17 


194 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


government,  and  partly  from  their  still  more 
wretched  religion,  there  is  hardly  any  vice, 
either  of  slaves  or  robbers,  to  which  they  do 
not  seem  addicted.  Yet  such  a  state  of  soci- 
ety is  at  least  curious,  and  resembles  more  the 
picture  of  Abyssinia  as  given  by  Bruce,  than 
that  of  any  other  country  which  I  have  seen  or 
read  of ;  while  here  too  there  are  many  wild 
and  woody  scenes,  which,  though  they  want 
the  glorious  glaciers  and  peaks  of  the  Himma- 
laya,  do  not  fall  short  in  natural  beauty  of  some 
of  the  loveliest  glens  which  we  went  through 
ten  years  ago  in  North  Wales;  and  some  very 
remarkable  ruins,  which,  though  greatly  infe- 
rior as  works  of  art  to  the  Mussulman  remains 
in  Hindoostan  Proper,  are  yet  more  curious 
than  them,  as  being  more  different  from  any- 
thing which  an  European  is  accustomed  to  see 
or  read  of. 

"  One  fact,  indeed,  during  this  journey,  has 
been  impressed  on  my  mind  very  forcibly — 
that  the  character  and  situation  of  the  natives 
of  these  great  countries  are  exceedingly  little 
known,  and  in  many  instances  grossly  mis- 
represented, not  only  by  the  Engish  public  in 
general,  but  by  a  great  proportion  of  those  also 


LETTER  TO  MR.  HORTON. 


195 


who,  though  they  have  been  in  India,  have 
taken  their  views  of  its  population,  manners, 
and  productions  from  Calcutta,  or  at  most  from 
Bengal.  I  had  always  heard,  and  fully  be- 
lieved till  I  came  to  India,  that  it  was  a  griev- 
ous crime,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Brahmins,  to 
eat  the  flesh  or  shed  the  blood  of  any  living 
creature  whatever.  I  have  now  myself  seen 
Brahmins  of  the  highest  caste  cut  off  the  heads 
of  goats  as  a  sacrifice  to  Doorga;  and  I  know, 
from  the  testimony  of  Brahmins,  as  well  as 
from  other  sources,  that  not  only  hecatombs  of 
animals  are  oflen  offered  in  this  manner  as  a 
most  meritorious  act,  (a  Raja,  about  twenty- 
five  years  back,  offered  sixty  thousand  in  one 
fortnight,)  but  that  any  person,  Brahmins  not 
excepted,  eats  readily  of  the  flesh  of  whatever 
has  been  offered  up  to  one  of  their  divinities; 
while  among  almost  all  the  other  castes,  mut- 
ton, pork,  Hsh,  venison, — anything  but  beef  and 
fowls, — are  consumed  as  readily  as  in  Europe. 
Again,  I  had  heard  all  my  life  of  the  gentle 
and  timid  Hindoos,  patient  under  injuries, 
servile  to  their  superiors,  &c.  Now,  this  is 
doubtless,  to  a  certain  extent,  true  of  the 
Bcngalesc,   (who,  by  the  way,  are  never 


196 


BISHOP  HKBER. 


reckoned  among  the  nations  of  Hindoostan  by 
those  who  speak  the  language  of  that  country,) 
and  there  are  a  great  many  people  in  Calcutta 
who  maintain  that  all  the  natives  of  India  are 
alike.  But  even  in  Bengal,  gentle  as  the  ex- 
terior manners  of  the  people  are,  there  are 
large  districts  close  to  Calcutta,  where  the 
work  of  carding,  burning,  ravishing,  murder, 
and  robbery,  goes  on  as  systematically,  and  in 
nearly  the  same  manner,  as  in  the  worst  part 
of  Ireland;  and  on  entering  Hindoostan,  pro- 
perly so  called,  which,  in  the  estimate  of  the 
natives,  reaches  from  the  Rajamahal  hills  to 
Agra,  and  from  the  mountains  of  Kumaoon  to 
Bundelcund,  I  was  struck  and  surprised  to  find 
a  people  equal  in  stature  and  strength  to  the 
average  V  of  European  nations,  despising  rice 
and  rice-eaters,  feeding  on  wheat  and  barley- 
bread,  exhibiting  in  their  appearance,  conver- 
sation, and  habits  of  life,  a  grave,  a  proud,  and 
decidedly  a  martial  character,  accustomed  uni- 
versally to  the  use  of  arms  and  athletic  exer- 
cises from  their  cradles,  and  preferring  very 
great  military  service  to  any  other  means  of 
livelihood.  This  part  of  their  character,  but 
in  a  ruder  and  wilder  form,  and  debased  by 


LETTER  TO  MR. 


HORTON. 


197 


much  alloy  of  treachery  and  violence,  is  cou 
spicuous  in  the  smaller  and  less  good-looking 
inhabitants  of  Rajapootam  and  Malwah;  while 
the  mountains  and  woods,  wherever  they  oc- 
cur, show  specimens  of  a  race  entirely  different 
from  all  these,  and  in  a  state  of  society  scarcely 
less  elevated  above  the  savages  of  New  Hol- 
land, or  New  Zealand;  and  the  inhabitants, 
I  am  assured,  of  the  Deccan,  and  of  the  Pre- 
sidencies of  Madras  and  Bombay,  are  as  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  I  have  seen,  and  from 
each  other,  as  the  French  and  Portuguese  from 
the  Greeks,  Germans,  or  Poles.  So  idle  is  it 
to  ascribe  uniformity  of  character  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  a  country  so  extensive,  and  subdivided 
by  so  many  almost  impassable  tracts  of  moun- 
tain and  jungle,  and  so  little  do  the  majority 
of  those  whom  I  have  seen  deserve  the  gentle 
and  imbecile  character  often  assigned  to  them. 

"  I  met,  not  long  since,  with  a  speech  by  a 
leading  member  of  the  Scotch  General  As- 
sembly, declaring  his  '  conviction  that  the 
truths  of  Christianity  could  not  be  received  by 
men  in  so  rude  a  state  as  the  East  Indians,  and 
that  it  was  necessary  to  give  them  first  a  relish 
for  the  habits  and  comforts  of  civilized  life 
17* 


198 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


before  they  could  embrace  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel.'  The  same  slang  (for  it  is  nothing 
more)  I  have  seen  repeated  in  divers  pam- 
phlets, and  even  heard  it  in  conversations  in 
Calcutta.  Yet  though  it  is  certainly  true  that 
the  lower  classes  of  Indians  are  miserably  poor, 
and  that  there  are  many  extensive  districts 
where,  both  among  low  and  high,  the  laws  are 
very  little  obeyed,  and  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
robbery,  oppression,  and  even  ferocity,  I  know 
no  part  of  the  population,  except  the  mountain 
tribes  already  mentioned,  who  can  with  any 
propriety  of  language  be  called  uncivilized. 
Of  the  unpropitious  circumstances  which  I 
have  mentioned,  the  former  arises  from  a  po- 
pulation continually  pressing  on  the  utmost 
limits  of  subsistence,  and  which  is  thus  kept 
up,  not  by  any  dislike  or  indifference  to  a  bet- 
ter diet,  or  more  ample  clothing,  or  more  nu- 
merous ornaments,  than  now  usually  fall  to  the 
peasant's  share,  (for,  on  the  contrary,  if  he 
has  the  means,  he  is  fender  of  external  show 
and  a  respectable  appearance,  than  those  of 
his  rank  in  many  nations  of  Europe,)  but  by 
the  foolish  superstition,  which  Christianity  on- 
ly is  likely  to  remove,  which  n^akcs  a  parent 


LETTER  TO  MR.  HORTON. 


199 


regard  it  as  unpropitious  -to  allow  his  son  to 
remain  unmarried,  and  which  couples  together 
children  of  twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age. 
The  second  has  its  origin  in  the  long-contin- 
ued misfortunes  and  intestine  wars  of  India, 
which  are  as  yet  too  recent  (even  where  their 
causes  have  ceased  to  exist)  for  the  agitation 
which  they  occasioned  to  have  entirely  sunk 
into  a  calm.  But  to  say  that  the  Hindoos  or 
Mussulmans  are  deficient  in  any  essential  fea- 
ture of  a  civilized  people,  is  an  assertion  which 
I  can  scarcely  suppose  to  be  made  by  any  who 
have  lived  with  them.  Their  manners  are  at 
least  as  pleasing  and  courteous  as  those  in  the 
corresponding  stations  of  life  among  ourselves; 
their  houses  are  larger,  and,  according  to  their 
wants  and  climate,  to  the  full  as  convenient  as 
ours;  their  architecture  is  at  least  as  elegant; 
and  though  the  worthy  Scotch  divine  may 
doubtless  wish  their  labourers  to  be  clad  in 
hoddin  grey,  and  tiieir  gentry  and  merchants 
to  wear  powder  and  mottled  stockings,  like 

worthy  Mr.  and  the  other  elders  of  his 

kirk-session,  I  really  do  not  think  that  they 
Avould  gain  either  in  cleanliness,  elegance,  or 
comfort,  by  exchanging  a  white  cotton  robe  for 
the  completest  suit  of  dittos. 


200 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


"  Nor  is  it  true,  that,  in  the  mechanic  arts, 
they  are  inferior  to  the  general  run  of  Eu- 
ropean nations.  Where  they  fall  short  of  us, 
(which,  is  chiefly  in  agricultural  implements 
and  the  mechanics  of  corhmon  life,)  they  are 
not,  so  far  as  I  have  understood  of  Italy  and 
the  South  of  France,  surpassed  in  any  great 
degree  by  the  people  of  those  countries. 
Their  goldsmiths  and  weavers  produce  as 
beautiful  fabrics  as  our  own,  and  it  is  so  far 
from  true,  that  they  are  obstinately  wedded  to 
their  old  patterns,  that  they  show  an  anxiety 
to  imitate  our  models,  and  to  imitate  them 
very  successfully.  The  ships  built  by  native 
artists  at  Bombay  are  notoriously  as  good  as 
any  which  sail  from  London  or  Liverpool. 
The  carriages  and  gigs  Avhich  they  supply  at 
Calcutta  are  as  handsome,  though  not  so 
durable,  as  those  of  Long  Acre.  In  the  little 
town  of  Monghyr,  three  hundred  miles  from 
Calcutta,  I  had  pistols,  double-barrelled  guns, 
and  diflercnt  pieces  of  cabinet  work  brought 
down  to  my  boat  for  sale,  which  in  outward 
form,  (for  I  know  no  further,)  nobody  but 

perhaps  Mr.  could  detect  to  be  of 

Hindoo  origin  ;  and  at  Delhi,  in  the  shop  of 


LETTER  TO  MR.   HORTON.  201 


a  wealthy  native  jeweller,  I  found  brooches, 
ear-rings,  snuff-boxes,  &c.  of  the  latest  mo- 
dels, (so  far  as  I  am  a  judge,)  and  ornamented 
with  French  devices  and  mottos. 

"  The  fact  is,  that  there  is  a  degree  of  inter- 
course maintained  between  this  country  and 
Europe,  and  a  degree  of  information  existing 
among  the  people  as  to  what  passes  there, 
which,  considering  how  few  of  them  speak  or 
read  English,  implies  other  channels  of  com- 
munication besides  those  which  we  supply, 
and  respecting  which  I  have  b(;en  able  as  yet 
to  obtain  very  little  information. 

"  Among  the  presents  sent  last  year  to  the 
supreme  government  by  the  little  state  of 
Ladeh,  in  Chinese  Tartary,  some  large  sheets 
of  gilt  leather,  stamped  with  the  Russian 
eagle,  were  the  most  conspicuous.  A  travel- 
ler, who  calls  himself  a  Transylvanian,  but 
who  is  shrewdly  suspected  of  being  a  Russian 
spy,  was,  when  I  was  in  Kumaoon,  arrested 
by  the  commandant  of  one  of  our  fortresses 
among  the  Himmalaya  mountains  ;  and,  after 
all  our  pains  to  exclude  foreigners  from  the 
service  of  the  native  princes,  two  Chevaliers 
of  the  Legion  of  Honour  were  found,  about 


202 


BISHOP  HEBEK. 


twelve  months  ago,  and  are  still  employed  in, 
casting  cannon,  and  drilling  soldiers  for  the 
Seik  Raja,  Runjeet  Singh.  This,  you  will  say, 
is  no  more  than  we  should  be  prepared  to  ex- 
pect ]  but  you  probably  would  not  suppose, 
(what  I  believe  is  little,  if  at  all,  known  in 
Russia  itself,)  that  there  is  an  ancient  and 
still  frequented  place  of  Hindoo  pilgrimage 
not  many  miles  from  Moscow; — or  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Calcutta  Bible  Society  re- 
ceived, ten  months  ago,  an  application  (by 
whom  translated  I  do  not  know,  but  in  very 
tolerable  English)  from  some  priests  on  the 
shore  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  requesting  a  grant 
of  Armenian  Bibles.  After  this,  you  will  be 
the  less  surprised  to  learn  that  the  leading- 
events  of  the  late  wars  in  Europe  (particular- 
ly Buonaparte's  victories)  were  often  known, 
or  at  least  rumoured,  among  the  native  mer- 
chants of  Calcutta,  before  government  re- 
ceived any  accounts  from  England  ;  or  that 
the  suicide  of  an  English  minister  (with  the 
mistake,  indeed,  of  its  being  Lord  Liverpool 
instead  of  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry)  had 
become  a  topic  of  conversation  in  the  '  Burra 
Bazar,'  (the  native  exchange,)  for  a  fortnight 


LETTER  TO  MR.  HORTON. 


203 


before  the  arrival  of  any  intelligence  by  the 
usual  channels. 

"  With  subjects  thus  inquisitive,  and  with 
such  opportunities  of  information,  it  is  appa- 
rent how  little  sense  there  is  in  thcdoctrine 
that  we  Must  keep  the  natives  of  Hindostan 
in  ignorance  if  we  would  continue  to  govern 
them.  The  fact  is,  that  they  know  enough 
already  to  do  us  a  great  deal  of  mischief,  if 
they  should  find  it  their  interest  to  make  the 
trial.  They  are  in  a  fair  way,  by  degrees,  to 
acquire  still  more  knowledge  for  themselves  ; 
and  the  question  is,  whether  it  is  not  the  part 
of  wisdom,  as  well  as  duty,  to  superintend  and 
promote  their  education  while  it  is  yet  in  our 
power,  and  supply  them  with  such  knowledge 
as  will  be  at  once  most  harmless  to  ourselves 
and  most  useful  to  them. 

"  In  this  work  the  most  important  part  is  to 
give  them  a  better  religion.  Knowing  how 
strongly  I  feel  on  this  subject,  you  will  not  be 
surprised  at  my  placing  it  foremost.  But  even 
if  Christianity  were  out  of  the  question,  and  if, 
when  I  had  wheeled  away  the  rubbish  of  the 
old  pagodas,  I  had  nothing  better  than  simple 
Deism  to  erect  in  their  stead,  I  should  still  feel 


204 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


some  of  the  anxiety  which  now  urges  me.  It 
is  necessary  to  see  idolatry,  to  be  fully  sensible 
of  its  mischievous  effects  on  the  human  mind. 
But  of  all  idolatries  which  I  have  ever  read  or 
heard  of^  the  religion  of  the  Hindoos,  in  which 
I  have  taken  some  pains  to  inform  myself, 
really  appears  to  me  the  worst,  both  in  the 
degrading  notions  which  it  gives  of  the  Deity; 
in  the  endless  round  of  its  burdensome  cere- 
monies, which  occupy  the  time  and  distract 
the  thoughts,  without  either  instructing  or  in- 
teresting its  votaries  ;  in  the  filthy  acts  of  un- 
cleanness  and  cruelty  not  only  permitted  but 
enjoined,  and  inseparably  interwoven  with 
those  ceremonies  ;  in  the  system  of  castes,  a 
system  which  tends,  more  than  anything  else 
the  Devil  has  yet  invented,  to  destroy  the 
feelings  of  general  benevolence,  and  to  make 
nine-tenths  of  mankind  the  hopeless  slaves  of 
the  remainder;  and  in  the  total  absence  of 
any  popular  system  of  morals,  or  any  single 
lesson,  which  the  people  at  large  ever  hear, 
to  live  virtuously  and  do  good  to  each  other. 
I  do  not  say,  indeed,  that  there  are  not  some 
scattered  lessons  of  this  kind  to  be  found  in 
their  ancient  books  ;  but  those  books  are  nei- 


LETTER  TO  MR.  HORTON.  205 

ther  accessible  to  the  people  at  large,  nor  are 
these  last  permitted  to  read  them;  and,  in  ge- 
neral, all  the  sins  which  a  Sudra  is  taught  to 
fear,  are,  killing  a  cow,  offending  a  Brahmin, 
or  neglecting  one  of  the  many  frivolous  rites 
by  which  their  deities  are  supposed  to  be  con- 
ciliated. Accordingly,  though  the  general 
sobriety  of  the  Hindoos  (a  virtue  which  they 
possess  in  common  with  most  inhabitants  of 
warm  climates)  affords  a  very  great  facility  to 
the  maintenance  of  public  order  and  decorum, 
I  really  never  have  met  with  a  race  of  men 
whose  standard  of  morality  is  so  low,  who  feel 
so  little  apparent  shame  in  being  detected  in 
a  falsehood,  or  so  little  interest  in  the  suffer- 
ings of  a  neighbour  not  being  of  their  own 
caste  or  family;  whose  ordinary  and  familiar 
conversation  is  so  licentious  ;  or,  in  the  wilder 
and  more  lawless  districts,  who  shed  blood 
with  so  little  repugnance.  The  good  quali- 
ties which  there  arc  among  them  (and,  thank 
God  !  there  is  a  great  deal  of  good  among 
them  still)  are,  in  no  instance  that  I  am  aware 
of,  connected  with,  or  arising  out  of,  their  reli- 
gion, since  it  is  in  no  instance  to  good  deeds 
or  virtuous  habits  of  life  that  the  future  re- 
18 


206 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


wards  in  which  they  beHeve  are  promised. 
Their  bravery,  their  fidehty  to  their  employ- 
ers, their  temperance,  and  (wherever  these 
are  found)  their  humanity  and  gentleness  of 
disposition,  appear  to  arise  exclusively  from 
a  natural  happy  temperament;  from  an  ho- 
nourable pride  in  their  own  renown,  and  the 
renown  of  their  ancestors;  and  from  the  good- 
ness of  God,  who  seems  unwilhng  that  his 
image  should  be  entirely  defaced  even  in  the 
midst  of  the  grossest  error.  The  Mussul- 
mans have  a  far  better  creed  ;  and  though 
they  seldom  either  like  the  English  or  are 
likfed  by  them,  I  am  inclined  to  think  are,  on 
the  whole,  a  better  people.  Yet,  even  with 
them,  the  forms  of  their  worship  have  a  natu- 
ral tendency  to  make  men  hypocrites,  and 
the  overweening  contempt  with  Avhich  they 
are  inspired  for  all  the  world  beside,  the  de- 
gradation of  their  women  by  the  system  of 
polygamy, '  and  the  detestable  crimes,  which, 
owing  to  this  degradation,  are  almost  univer- 
sal, are  such  as,  even  if  I  had  no  ulterior  hope, 
would  make  me  anxious  to  attract  them  to  a 
better  or  more  harmless  system.  In  this 
work,  thank  God!  in  those  parts  of  India 


LETTER  TO  MK.  HORTON. 


207 


which  I  have  visited,  a  beginning  has  been 
made,  and  a  degree  of  success  obtained,  at 
least  commensurate  to  the  few  years  during 
which  our  missionaries'  have  laboured;  and 
it  is  still  going  on,  in  the  best  and  safest  way, 
as  the  work  of  private  persons  alone,  and  al- 
though not  forbidden,  in  no  degree  encourag- 
ed, by  government. 

"  In  the  meantime,  and  as  an  useful  auxilia- 
ry to  the  missionaries,  the  establishment  of 
elementary  schools,  for  the  lower  classes  and 
for  females,  is  going  on  to  a  very  great  extent, 
and  might  be  carried  to  any  conceivable  ex- 
tent to  which  our  pecuniary  means  would 
carry  us.  Nor  is  there  any  measure  from 
which  I  anticipate  more  speedy  benefit  than 
the  elevation  of  the  rising  generation  of  fe- 
males to  their  natural  rank  in  society,  and  giv- 
ing them  (which  is  all  that,  in  any  of  our 
schools,  we  as  yet  venture  to  give)  the  les- 
sons of  general  morality  extracted  from  the 
Gospel,  without  any  direct  religious  instruc- 
tion. These  schools,  such  of  them  at  least  as 
1  have  any  concern  with,  are  carried  on  with- 
out any  help  from  government.  Government 
has,  however,  been  very  liberal  in  its  grants 


208 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


both  to  a  Society  for  National  Education,  and 
in  the  institution  and  support  of  two  colleges 
of  Hindoo  students  of  riper  age,  the  one  at 
Benares,  the  other  at  Calcutta.  But  I  do  not 
think  any  of  these  institutions,  in  the  Avay  af- 
ter which  they  are  at  present  conducted,  like- 
ly to  do  much  good.  In  the  elementary  schools 
supported  by  the  former,  through  a  very  cause- 
less and  ridiculous  fear  of  giving  offence  to 
the  natives,  they  have  forbidden  the  use  of  the 
Scriptures,  or  any  extracts  from  them,  though 
the  moral  lessons  of  the  Gospel  are  read  by 
all  Hindoos  who  can  get  hold  of  them,  with- 
out scruple  and  with  much  attention  ;  and 
though  their  exclusion  is  tantamount  to  ex- 
cluding all  moral  instruction  from  their  schools, 
the  Hindoo  sacred  writings  having  nothing 
of  the  kind,  and,  if  they  had,  being  shut  up 
from  the  majority  of  the  people  by  the  double 
fence  of  a  dead  language  and  an  actual  pro- 
hibition to  read  them,  as  too  holy  for  common 
eyes  or  ears.  The  defects  of  the  latter  will 
appear  when  I  have  told  you  that  the  actual 
state  of  Hindoo  and  Mussulman  literature, 
mutatis  mutandis,  very  nearly  resembles  what 
the  literature  of  Europe  was  before  the  time 


LETTER  TO  HOKTON.  209 

of  Galileo,  Copernicus,  and  Bacon.  The 
Mussulmans  take  their  Logic  from  Aristotle, 
filtered  through  many  successive  translations 
and  commentaries,  and  their  metaphysical  sys- 
tem is  professedly  derived  from  Plato  ('  Fila- 
toun.')  The  Hindoos  have  systems  not  very 
dissimilar  from  these,  though,  I  am  told,  of 
greater  length  and  more  intricacy  ;  but  the 
studies  in  which  they  spend  most  time  are  the 
acquisition  of  the  Sanscrit,  and  the  endless  re- 
finements of  its  grammar,  prosody  and  poetry. 
Both  have  the  same  natural  philosophy,  which 
is  also  that  of  Aristotle  in  zoology  and  botany, 
and  Ptolemy  in  astronomy,  for  which  the 
Hindoos  have  forsaken  their  most  ancient  no- 
tions of  the  seven  seas,  the  six  earths,  and  tlie 
flat  base  of  Padalon,  supported  on  the  back  of 
a  tortoise.  By  the  science  which  ithey  now 
possess,  they  are,  some  of  them,  able  to  forctel 
an  eclipse  or  compose  an  almanac;  and  many 
of  them  derive  some  little  pecuniary  advantage 
from  pretensions  to  judicial  astrology.  In 
medicine  and  chemistry  they  are  just  suffi- 
ciently advanced  to' talk  of  substances  being 
moist,  dry,  hot,  Stc.  in  the  third  or  fourth  de- 
gree; to  dissuade  from  letting  blood  or  phy- 
18* 


210 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


sicking  on  a  Tuesday^  or  under  a  particular 
aspect  ofthe  heavens;  and  to  be  eager  in  their 
pursuit  of  the  philosopher's  stone  and  the 
elixir  of  immortality. 

"  The  task  of  enlightening  the  studious  youth 
of  such  a  nation  would  seem  to  be  a  tolerably 
straightforward  one.  But  though,  for  the  col- 
lege in  Calcutta,  (not  Bishop''s  College  remem- 
ber, but  the  Vidhalya,  or  Hindoo  College,)  an 
expensive  set  of  instruments  has  been  sent 
out,  and  it  seems  intended  that  the  natural 
sciences  should  be  studied  there,  the  Mana- 
gers of  the  present  institution  take  care  that 
their  boys  should  have  as  little  time  as  possi- 
ble for  such  pursuits,  by  requiring  from  them 
all,  without  exception,  a  laborious  study  of 
Sanscrit,  and  all  the  useless  and  worse  than 
useless  literature  of  their  ancestors.  A  good 
deal  of  this  has  been  charged  (and  in  some 
little  degree  charged  with  justice)  against  the 
exclusive  attention  paid  to  Greek  and  Logic 
till  lately  in  Oxford.  But  in  Oxford  we  have 
never  been  guilty  (since  a  better  system  was 
known  in  the  world  at  large)  of  teaching  the 
Physics  of  Aristotle,  however  we  may  have 
paid  an  excessive  attention  to  his  Metaphysics 


LETTER  TO  MR.   HORTON.  211 


an  d  Dialectics.  In  Benares,  however,  I  found 
in  the  institution  supported  by  Government, 
a  professor  lecturing  on  astronomy  after  the 
system  of  Ptolemy  and  Albumazar,  while  one 
of  the  most  forward  boys  was  at  the  pains  of 
casting  my  horscope;  and  the  majority  of  the 
school  were  toiling  at  Shanscreet  grammar. 
And  yet,  the  day  before,  in  the  same  holy  city, 
I  had  visited  another  college,  founded  lately 
by  a  wealthy  Hindoo  banker,  and  intrusted  by 
him  to  the  management  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society,  in  which,  besides  a  gramma- 
tical knowledge  of  the  Hindostanee  language, 
as  well  as  Persian  and  Arabic,  the  senior  boys 
could  pass  a  good  examination  in  English 
grammar,  in  Hume's  History  of  England, 
Joyce's  Scientific  Dialogues,  the  use  of  the 
globes,  and  the  principal  facts  and  moral  pre- 
cepts of  the  Gospel,  most  of  them  writing  beau- 
tifully in  the  Persian,  and  very  tolerably  in 
tlie  English,  character,  and  excelling  most 
boys  I  have  met  with  in  the  accuracy  and 
readiness  of  their  arithmetic.  The  English 
officer  who  is  now  in  charge  of  the  Benares 
Vidhalya  is  a  clever  and  candid  young  man, 
and  under  him  I  look  forward  to  much  im- 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


provement.  Rani-Mohun-Roy,  a  learned  na- 
tive, who  has  sometimes  been  called,  though 
I  fear  without  reason,  a  Christian,  remonstrat- 
ed against  this  system  last  year,  in  a  paper 
Vv'hich  he  sent  to  me  to  put  into  Ijord  Am- 
herst's hands,  and  which,  for  its  good  English, 
good  sense,  and  forcible  argument,  is  a  real 
curiosity,  as  coming  from  an  Asiatic." 

In  another  part  of  the  same  letter,  the  Bish- 
op treats  incidentally  of  a  topic  with  their  in- 
attention to  which  both  Professor  Von  Schle- 
gel  and  his  brother  have  bitterly  reproached 
the  English — the  architectural  antiquities  of 
Hindostan. 

"  I  had  myself  (says  he)  heard  much  of  these 
before  I  set  out,  and  had  met  with  many  per- 
sons, both  in  Europe  and  at  Calcutta  (where 
nothing  of  the  kind  exists)  who  spoke  of  the 
])resent  natives  of  India  as  a  degenerate  race, 
whose  inability  to  rear  such  splendid  piles  was 
a  proof  that  these  last  belong  to  a  remote  an- 
tiquity. I  have  seen,  however,  enough  to 
convince  me  both  that  the  Indian  masons  and 
architects  of  the  present  day  only  want  patrons 
sufliciently  wealthy  or  sufficiently  zealous  to 
do  all  which  their  lulhers  have  done,  and  tliut 


letter  to  MR.   HORTON.  213 

there  are  very  few  structures  here  which  can, 
on  any  satisfactory  grounds,  be  referred  to  a 
date  so  early  as  the  greater  part  of  our  own 
cathedrals.  Often,  in  Upper  Hindoostan,  and 
still  more  frequently  in  Rajapootam  and  Mal- 
wah,  I  have  met  with  new  and  unfinished 
shrines,  cisterns,  and  ghats,  as  beautifully 
carved  and  as  well  proportioned  as  the  best  of 
those  of  an  earlier  day.  And  though  there 
•  are  many  buildings  and  ruins  which  exhibit  a 
most  venerable  appearance,  there  are  many 
causes  in  this  country  which  give  this  appear- 
ance prematurely.  In  the  first  instance  we 
ourselves  have  a  complex  impression  made  on 
,  us  by  the  sight  of  edifices  so  distant  from  our 
own  country,  and  so  unlike  whatever  we  have 
seen  there.  We  multiply,  as  it  were,  the  geo- 
graphical and  moral  distance  into  the  chrono- 
logical, and  can  hardly  persuade  ourselves  that 
we  are  contemporaries  with  an  object  so  far 
removed  in  every  other  respect.  Besides  this, 
however,  the  firmest  masonry  in  these  climates 
is  sorely  tried  by  the  alternate  influence  of  a 
pulverizing  sun  and  a  continued  three  months' 
rain.  The  wild  fig-tree  {pupul  or  Jicus  reli- 
giosa,)  which  no  Hindoo  can  root  out,  or  even 


214 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


lop,  without  a  deadly  sin,  soon  sows  its  seeds 
and  fixes  its  roots  in  the  joints  of  the  arching, 
and  being  of  rapid  growth,  at  the  same  time, 
and  in  a  very  few  years,  increases  its  pictur- 
esque and  antique  appearance,  and  secures  its 
eventual  destruction;  lastly,  no  man  in  this 
country  repairs  or  completes  what  his  father 
has  begun,  preferring  to  begin  something  else 
by  which  his  own  name  may  be  remembered. 
Accordingly,  at  Dacca  are  many  fine  ruins, 
which  at  first  impressed  me  with  a  great  idea 
of  their  age.  Yet  Dacca  is  a  modern  city, 
ibunded,  or  at  least  raised  from  insignificance, 
under  Shah  Oehanghise,  in  A.  D.  1608;  and 
the  tradition  of  the  place  is,  that  these  fine 
buildings  were  erected  by  European  architects 
in  the  service  of  the  then  governor.  At  Be- 
nares, the  princij)al  temple  has  an  appearance 
so  venerable,  that  one  might  suppose  it  to 
have  stood  unaltered  ever  since  the  Treta 
Yug,  and  that  Mena  and  Capila  had  perform- 
ed austerities  witliin  its  precincts.  Yet  it  is 
historically  certain  that  all  the  Hindoo  temples 
of  consequence  in  Benares  were  pulled  down 
by  Aurungzebe,  the  contemporary  of  Charles 
the  Second,  and  that  the  present  structure 


LETTER  TO  MR.  HORTON.  215 


must  have  been  raised  since  that  time.  The 
observatories  of  Benares,  Delhi,  and  Jage- 
poor,  I  heard  spoken  of  in  the  carelessness  of 
conversation,  not  only  as  extremely  curious  in 
themselves  (which  they  certainly  are,)  but  as 
monuments  of  the  ancient  science  of  the  Hin- 
doos. All  three,  however,  are  known  to  be 
the  work  of  the  Rajah  Jye  Singh,  who  died  in 
1742! 

"  A  remote  antiquity  is,  with  better  reason, 
claimed  for  some  idols  of  black  stone,  and 
elegant  columns  of  the  same  material,  which 
have  been  collected  in  different  parts  of  the 
districts  of  Rotas,  Bulnem,  &.c. — These  be- 
long to  the  religion  of  a  sect  (the  Boodhists) 
of  which  no  remains  are  now  found  in  those 
provinces.  But  I  have  myself  seen  images 
exactly  similar  in  the  newly  erected  temples 
of  the  Jains,  a  sect  of  Boodhists,  still  wealthy 
and  numerous  in  Guzerat,  Rajapootam,  and 
Malvvah;  and  in  a  country  where  there  is  lite- 
rally no  history,  it  is  impossible  to  say  how 
long  since,  or  how  lately,  they  may  have  lost 
their  ground  in  the  more  ea.stern  parts  of  Gund- 
wana. 

"  In  the  wilds  which  I  have  lately  been  tr|i- 


216 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


versing,  at  Chittore  Ghur  more  particularly, 
there  are  some  very  beautiful  buildings,  of 
which  the  date  was  obviously  assigned  at  ran- 
dom, and  which  might  be  five  hundred  or  one 
thousand,  or  a  hundred-and-fifty  years  old,  for 
all  their  present  guardians  know  about  the 
matter.  But  it  must  be  always  borne  in  mind 
that  one  thousand  years  are  just  as  easily  said 
as  ten,  and  that  in  the  mouth  of  a  Cicerone 
they  are  sometimes  thought  to  sound  rather 
better. 

"  The  oldest  things  which  I  have  seen,  of 
which  the  dates  could  be  at  all  ascertained, 
are  some  detached  blocks  of  marble,  with  in- 
scriptions, but  of  no  appalling  remoteness;  and 
two  remarkable  pillars  of  black  mixed  metal, 
in  a  Patau  forest  near  Delhi,  and  at  C\'*tab- 
Misar  in  the  same  neighbourhood;  both  co- 
vered with  inscriptions,  which  nobody  can  now 
read,  but  both  mentioned  in  Mussulman  history 
as  in  their  present  situation  at  the  time  when 
'  the  Believers'  conquered  Delhi,  about  A.  D. 
1000.  But  what  is  this  to  the  date  of  the  Par- 
thenon ?  Or  how  little  can  these  trifling  relics 
bear  a  comparison  with  the  works  of  Greece 
and  Egypt.' 


LETTER  TO  BIR.   HORTON.  217 

"  Ellora  and  Elephanta  I  have  not  yet  seen. 
I  can  believe  all  which  is  said  of  their  size  and 
magnificence;  but  they  are  without  date  or 
inscription:  they  are,  I  understand,  not  men- 
tioned, even  incidentally,  in  any  Sanscrit  MS. 
Their  images,  &c.  are  the  same  with  those  now 
worshipped  in  every  part  of  India,  and  there 
have  been  many  Rajahs  and  wealthy  individ- 
uals in  every  age  of  Indian  history  who  have 
possessed  the  means  of  carving  a  huge  stone- 
quarry  into  a  cathedral.  To  our  cathedrals, 
after  all,  they  are,  I  understand,  very  inferior 
in  size.  All  which  can  be  known  is,  that  Ele- 
phanta must  probably  have  been  begun  (whe- 
ther it  was  ever  finished  seems  very  doubtful) 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Portuguese  at  Bom- 
bay; and  that  Ellora  may  reasonably  be  con- 
cluded to  have  been  erected  in  a  time  of  peace 
under  a  Hindoo  prince,  and  therefore  either 
before  the  first  AfFghan  conquest,  or  subse- 
quently, during  the  recovered  independence 
of  that  part  of  Candeish  and  the  Deccan.  This 
is  no  great  matter  certainly,  and  it  may  be 
older;  but  all  I  say  is,  that  we  have  no  reason 
to  conclude  it  is  so,  and  the  impression  on  my 
raind  decidedly  accords  with  Mill — that  the 
19 


218  BISHOP  HEBER. 

Hindoos,  after  all,  though  they  have  doubtless 
existed  from  very  great  antiquity  as  an  indus- 
trious and  civilized  people,  had  made  no  great 
progress  in  the  arts,  and  took  all  their  notions 
of  magnificence  from  the  models  furnished  by 
their  Mahometan  conquerors."  ' 

From  Meerut  the  Bishop  continued  his  jour- 
ney to  Bombay — 

'  His  sojourn  there  (says  a  writer  already 
cited*)  was  rendered  somewhat  remarkable 
by  the  arrival,  nearly  at  the  same  time,  of  a 
bishop  from  Antioch,  to  superintend  that  part 
of  the  Syrian  Church  which  refuses  allegiance 
to  the  Pope.  After  a  suspension,  for  some 
years,  of  all  intercourse  with  the  country  from 
which  its  faith  originally  sprung,  and  Avhich  in 
later  times,  by  a  fresh  supply  of  ministers,  had 
enabled  it  to  throw  off,  in  a  great  measure, 
the  usurpations  of  the  church  of  Rome  enforc- 
ed by  the  Portuguese,  it  was  now  destined  to 
rejoice  once  more  in  a  nursing-father  from 
Syria.  The  favourable  disposition  of  this 
branch  of  the  Syro-Malabaric  church  towards 
our  own  had  long  been  known.    It  is  a  curi- 


*  Quarterly  Review,  No.  LXX. 


BOlhBA*. 


219 


ous  fact,  however,  and  one  that  may  be  new 
to  our  readers,  that  Principal  Mill,  in  \822, 
found  their  college  and  parochial  schools  at 
Cottayam,  under  the  direction  of  three  clergy- 
men of  the  Church  of  England,  who,  without 
compromising  their  own  views,  gave  no  of- 
fence to  the  Metropolitan,  who  consulted  and 
employed  them;  using  for  themselves  and  their 
own  families  the  English  Liturgy  at  one  of 
his  chapels;  and  condemning  by  their  silence 
those  portions  ol  the  Syrian  ritual  which,  as 
Protestants,  they  could  not  approve  and  which 
they  trusted  the  gradual  influence  of  the  know- 
ledge they  were  helping  to  disseminate  would 
at  length,  and  by  regular  authority,  undermine. 
Nor  was  this  friendly  feeling  less  conspicuous 
in  the  readiness  wit  h  which  Mar  Athanasius 
(the  Syrian  prelate)  attended  the  sei-vice  at 
Bombay  according  to  the  English  forms,  and 
received  the  communion  at  the  hands  of  Bishop 
Heber.  Neither  was  it  likely  to  be  diminished 
by  a  small  viaticum  for  the  prosecution  of  his 
journey  to  Malabar,  and  a  donation  to  the  poor 
students  in  theology  at  Cottayam,  which  the 
Bishop  was  enabled  to  bestow  from  the  bounty 
of  the  Christian  Knowledge  Society, — an  ap- 


220 


BISHOP  ftEBER. 


plication  of  their  funds  which,  if  disapproved 
— (he  writes  with  his  usual  modesty  and  dis- 
interestedness) "  I  will  most  cheerfully  re- 
place." 

'  Ceylon,  which  Heber  next  visited,  might 
seem  to  be  a  paradise  on  earth.  Gentle  undu- 
lations of  what  in  England  might  be  called 
well-dressed  lawn  (we  speak  of  the  S.  W. 
quarter) — rivers  rapid,  deep,  clear — cocoa- 
palms  peeping  forth  from  vast  tracts  of  jungle, 
and  marking  to  an  experienced  eye  the  site  of 
some  sequestered  village — mountain-sierras  of 
no  inconsiderable  height,  and  of  shapes  the 
most  fantastic — plants  of  all  hues,  the  choicest 
ornaments  of  an  English  hot-house — precious 
stones  of  every  variety,  unless,  perhaps,  the 
emerald  ; — such  are  some  of  the  riches  of 
Ceylon.  But  the  picture  has  its  deep  sha- 
dows. Along  the  borders  of  those  romantic 
streams  there  lurks  an  air,  that  no  man  can 
breathe  long,  and  live ; — a  fact  the  more  re- 
nmrkable,  as  the  tanks  or  standing  pools  of 
the  same  country  are  said  to  exhale  an  atmos- 
phere of  health,  and  to  one  of  these  Karidy 
has  been  supposed  to  owe  its  comparative  sa- 
lubrity.    Snakes  and  other  reptiles  are  so 


BOMBAY. 


221 


abundant,  so  active,  and  so  deadly,  that  but 
few  birds  are  seen,  and  for  the  songsters  of 
an  English  grove,  the  traveller  must  be  con- 
tent to  receive  in  exchange  "  apes  that  mow 
and  chatter  at  him,"  as  if  the  island  were 
Prospero's.  Female  infanticide  is  reported 
to  prevail  in  some  districts  to  a  considerable 
extent;  and  we  can  easily  believe  this  of  a 
country  in  which  several  brothers  of  the  same 
family  are  accustomed  to  share  tlie  same  wife; 
and,  to  crown  all,  at  night  the  blaze  of  the  sa- 
crifice, the  dance,  and  the  drum,  proclaim  that 
those  who  worship  at  all,  worship  the  devil. 
Yet,  with  all  this,  the  island  holds  out  a  pros- 
pect of  better  things.  The  noble  experiment 
of  Sir  Alexander  Johnstone,  as  to  the  intro- 
duction of  a  species  of  jury  trial,  appears  to 
have  been  crowned  with  most  encouraging 
success.  The  prejudice  of  caste  is  far  less 
powerful  than  on  the  continent;  and  the  Dutch 
had  long  ago  established  in  it  a  system  of  pa- 
rochial schools  and  parochial  preaching,  which, 
though  for  some  time  fallen  into  decay,  the 
Bishop  hoped,  with  the  concurrence  of  go- 
vernment, which  he  solicited,  to  restore  to 
more  than  former  usefulness,  and  connect 


222 


BISHOP  HEBEK. 


with  the  national  churcli.  Meanwhile,  as  a 
secondary  measure,  he  moved  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledge  to  establish 
one  or  more  central  schools  in  the  islands,  for 
the  board  and  education  of  a  certain  number 
of  native  Christian  youths,  who  might  thus  be 
<iualified  to  act  as  schoolmasters;  and,  in  case 
of  promising  talents,  become  recruits  for  the 
college  at  Calcutta,  thence  to  return  in  due 
time,  and  shed  blessings  on  their  native  isl- 
and. Before  quitting  Ceylon,  the  Bishop 
paid  a  visit  to  Kandy — a  spot  where  the  ho- 
nour of  England  suffered  a  stain,  and  which 
our  troops  must  have  taken  possession  of  once 
more,  with  feelings  not  unlike  those  of  the 
army  of  Germanicus,  when  they  reached  the 
secluded  scene  where  the  legends  of  Varus 
had  left  their  bones  to  whiten.  Little,  indeed, 
could  it  have  been  thought,  twelve  years  be- 
Ibre,  that  a  capital  which  was  then  the  den  of 
the  most  bloodthirsty  and  treacherous  savage 
that  ever  disgraced  a  throne,  and  in  whom,  if 
his  subjects  must  needs  have  a  devil  to  adore, 
they  might  have  found  hhn  to  their  hands,  was 
destined  so  soon  to  be  the  peaceful  abode  of  a 
Christian  minister,  and  the  resting  place  of  a 
most  Christian  bishop.' 


(  223  ) 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Return  to  Calcutta — Second  Visitation — Ttte  Bishop  at 
Madras — at  Tanjore — at  Tricldnopoly — Death  of 
Heber. 

After  an  absence  of  about  fifteen  months, 
in  October,  1825,  he  again  arrived  at  Cal- 
cutta, where  he  remained  long  enough  to  make 
his  reports  to  England — to  preside  at  meetings 
where  his  presence  was  required — to  hold  an 
ordination,  and,  what  was  of  no  small  impor- 
tance, to  promote  the  building  of  a  church  in 
the  native  town  at  Calcutta,  where  service 
might  be  performed  by  the  missionaries  on  the 
spot,  or  in  tlie  neighbourhood,  in  the  Bengalee 
and  Hindostanee  languages,  according  to  the 
Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England.  Such  a 
measure  had  been  adopted  elsewhere  with  the 
happiest  effects,  amongst  the  Hindoos,  a  peo- 
ple remarkably  alive  to  what  is  graceful  and 
decorous  in  external  worship  ;  and  here,  it 
was  hoped,  might  prevent  the  few  right  ideas, 
which  the  youths  had  gathered  at  the  schools, 


224 


BISHOP  HE6ER. 


or  in  the  perusal  of  Christian  books,  from  be- 
ing entirely  effaced  by  the  idolatrous  practices 
they  were  daily  condemned  to  witness. 

This  done,  the  Bishop  hastened  to  Madras, 
a  presidency  which  he  had  reserved  for  a  se- 
parate visitation,  and  wherein  it  was  ordained 
that  he  should  end  his  course.  On  Good  Fri- 
day he  preached  at  Combaconum  on  the  Cru- 
cifixion; and  on  Easter  Sunday,  at  Tanjore, 
on  the  Resurrection.  The  day  following  he 
held  a  confirmation  at  the  same  place;  and  in 
the  evening  deUvered  an  address  to  the  as- 
sembled missionaries,  as  he  stood  near  the 
grave  of  Schwartz,  a  name  which  he  had  ever 
venerated.  He  arrived  at  Trichinopoly  on 
the  first  of  April,  lf}26,  and  the  same  evening 
wrote  a  letter,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
part: — 

"  I  have  been  passing  the  last  four  days  in 
the  society  of  a  Hindoo  Prince,  the  Rajah  of 
Tanjore,  who  quotes  Fourcroy,  Lavoisier, 
Linnaeus,  and  Buffon,  as  fluently  as  Lady 
Morgan — has  formed  a  more  accurate  judg- 
ment of  the  poetical  merits  of  Shakspeare  than 
that  so  felicitously  expressed  by  Lord  Byron 
— and  has  actually  emitted  English  poetry 


TRICHINOPOLY. 


225 


very  superior  indeed  to  Rosseau's  Epitaph  on 
Shenstone — at  the  same  time  that  he  is  much 
respected  by  the  Enghsh  officers  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood as  a  real  good  judge  of  a  horse,  and 
a  cool,  bold,  and  deadly  shot  at  a  tyger. 
The  truth  is,  that  he  is  an  extraordinary  man, 
who,  having  in  early  youth  received  such  an 
education  as  old  Schwartzf  the  celebrated  mis- 
sionary, could  give  him,  has  ever  since  con- 
tinued, in  the  midst  of  many  disadvantages,  to 
preserve  his  taste  for,  and  extend  his  know- 
ledge of,  European  literature — while  he  has 
never  neglected  the  active  exercises  and  frank 
soldiery  bearing  which  become  the  descendant 
of  the  old  Mahratta  conquerors,  and  by  which 
only,  in  the  present  state  of  things,  he  has  it 
in  his  power  to  gratify  the  prejudices  of  his 
people,  and  prolong  his  popularity  among 
them.  Had  he  lived  in  the  days  of  Hyder, 
he  would  have  been  a  formidable  ally  or  ene- 
my, for  he  is,  by  the  testimony  of  all  in  his 
neighbourhood,  bold,  popular,  and  insinuating. 
At  present,  with  less  power  than  an  English 
nobleman,  he  holds  his  head  high,  and  appears 
contented;  and  the  print  of  Buonaparte  which 
hangs  in  his  library  is  so  neutralized  by  that 


226 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


of  Lord  Hastings  in  full  costume,  that  it  can 

do  no  harm  to  any  body  To  finish 

the  portrait  of  Maha  Rajah  Sarboju,  I  should 
tell  you  that  he  is  a  strong-built  and  very 
handsome  middle-aged  man,  with  eyes  and 
nose  like  a  fine  hawk,  and  very  bushy  gray 
mustachios — generally  very  splendidly  dress- 
ed, but  with  no  effeminacy  of  ornament,  and 
looking  and  talking  more  like  a  favourable 
specimen  of  a  French  general  officer  than  any 
other  object  of  comparison  which  occurs  to 
me.  His  son,  Rajah  Sewaju  (so  named  after 
their  great  ancestor)  is  a  pale,  sickly  lad  of 
seventeen,  who  also  speaks  English,  but  im- 
perfectly, and  on  whose  account  his  father  la- 
mented, with  much  apparent  concern,  the  im- 
possibility which  he  had  found  of  obtaining  any 
tolerable  instruction  in  Tanjore.  I  was  moved 
at  this,  and  offered  to  take  him  with  me  in  my 
present  tour,  and  afterwards  to  Calcutta, 
where  he  might  have  apartments  in  my  house, 
and  be  introduced  into  good  English  society; 
at  the  same  time,  that  I  would  superintend  his 
studies,  and  procure  for  him  the  best  masters 
which  India  affords.  The  father  and  son,  in 
different  ways,  the  one  catching  at  the  idea 


RAJAH  AT  TANJORE. 


227 


with  great  eagerness,  the  other  as  if  he  were 
afraid  to  say  all  he  wished,  seemed  both  very 
well  pleased  with  the  proposal.  Both,  how- 
ever, on  consulting  together,  expressed  a 
doubt  of  the  mother's  concurrence;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, next  day,  I  had  a  very  civil  mes- 
sage, through  the  Resident,  that  the  Rannee 
had  already  lost  two  sons;  that  this  survivor 
was  a  sickly  boy;  that  she  was  sure  he  would 
not  come  back  alive,  and  it  would  kill  her  to 
part  with  him;  but  that  all  the  family  joined 
in  gratitude,  Slc.  &c. 

"  So  poor  Sewaju  must  chew  betel,  and  sit 
in  the  Zenanah,  and  pursue  the  other  amuse- 
ments of  the  common  race  of  Hindoo  Princes, 
until  he  is  gath(yed  to  those  heroic  forms, 
who,  girded  with  long  swords,  with  hawks  on 
their  wrists,  and  garments  like  those  of  the 
king  of  spades  (whose  portrait  painter,  as  I 
guess,  has  been  retained  for  this  family,)  adorn 
the  principal  room  in  the  palace.  Sarboju 
(the  father)  has  not  trusted  his  own  immor- 
tality to  records  like  these;  he  has  put  up  a 
colossal  marble  statue  of  himself  by  Flaxman, 
in  one  of  his  halls  of  audience,  and  his  figure 
is  introduced  on  the  monument  (also  by  Flax- 


228 


BISHOP  HEBKR. 


man)  which  he  has  raised  in  the  mission 
church  to  the  memory  of  his  tutor,  Schwartz, 
as  grasping  the  hand  of  the  dying  saint,  and 
receiving  his  blessing. 

"  Of  Schwartz  and  his  fifty  years'  labour 
among  the  heathen,  the  extraordinary  influ- 
ence and  popularity  which  he  acquired,  both 
with  Mussulmans,  Hindoos,  and  contending 
European  governments,  I  need  give  you  no 
account,  except  that  my  idea  of  him  has  been 
raised  since  I  came  into  the  south  of  India. 
I  used  to  suspect  that,  with  many  admirable 
qualities,  there  was  too  great  a  mixture  of  in- 
trigue in  his  character,  that  he  was  too  much 
of  a  political  prophet,  and  that  the  veneration 
which  the  heathen  paid,  and  still  pay  him,  (and 
which,  indeed,  almost  regards  him  as  a  supe- 
rior being,  putting  crowns  and  burning  lights 
before  his  statue,)  was  purchased  by  some  un- 
warrantable compromise  with  their  prejudices. 
I  find  I  was  quite  mistaken.  He  was  really 
one  of  the  most  active  and  fearless  (as  he  was 
one  of  the  most  successful)  missionaries  who 
have  appeared  since  the  Apostles.  To  say 
that  he  was  disinterested  in  regard  to  money 
is  nothing;  he  was  perfectly  careless  of  power, 
and  renown  never  seemed  to  affect  him  even 


TRICHINOPOLY.  229 

SO  far  as  to  induce  an  outward  show  of  humil- 
ity. His  temper  was  perfectly  simple,  open, 
and  cheerful;  and  in  his  political  negotiations 
(employments  which  he  never  sought,  but 
which  fell  in  his  way)  he  never  pretended  to 
impartiality,  but  acted  as  the  avowed,  though 
certainly  the  successful  and  judicious  agent  of 
the  orphan  prince  intrusted  to  his  care,  and 
from  attempting  whose  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity he  seems  to  have  abstained,  from  a 
feeling  of  honour.  His  other  converts  were 
between  six  and  seven  thousand,  besides  those 
which  his  predecessors  and  companions  in  the 
cause  had  brought  over.  The  number  is  gra- 
dually increasing,  and  there  are  now  in  the 
south  of  India  about  two  hundred  Protestant 
congregations,  the  numbers  of  which  have 
been  sometimes  vaguely  stated  at  forty  thou- 
sand. I  doubt  whether  they  reach  fifteen 
thousand;  but  even  this,  all  things  considered, 
is  a  great  number.  The  Roman  Catholics  are 
considerably  more  numerous,  but  belong  to  a 
lower  caste  of  Indians,  (for  even  these  Chris- 
tians retain  many  prejudices  of  caste,)  and  in 
point  of  knowledge  and  morality,  are  said  to 
be  extremely  inferior. 

20 


230 


BISHOP  HEBER 


"  The  Brahmins,  being  Umited  to  voluntary 
votaries,  have  now  often  very  hard  work  to 
speed  the  ponderous  wheels  of  Suon  and  Bali 
through  the  deep  lanes  of  this  fertile  country. 
This  is,  however,  still  the  most  favoured  land 
of  Brahminism,  and  the  temples  are  larger  and 
more  beautiful  than  any  which  I  have  seen  in 
Northern  India.  They  are  also  decidedly 
older;  but  as  to  their  very  remote  age,  I  am 
still  incredulous." 

'  The  date  of  this  letter  gives  it  a  melan- 
choly interest.  It  was  probably  the  last  that 
this  admirable  man  wrote.  Next  day  being 
Sunday,  he  again  preached  and  confirmed,  a 
rite  which  he  administered  once  more  on 
Monday  morning  (April  the  3d,  1826)  in  the 
Fort  Church.  He  returned  home  to  break- 
fast; but  before  sitting  down,  took  a  cold-bath, 
as  he  had  done  the  two  preceding  days.  His 
attendant,  thinking  that  he  stayed  more  thfin 
the  usual  time,  entered  the  apartment,  and 
found  the  body  at  the  bottom  of  the  water, 
with  the  face  downwards.  The  usual  resto- 
ratives of  bleeding,  friction,  and  inflating  the 
lungs,  were  instantly  tried;  but  life  was  gone: 
and,  on  opening  the  head,  it  was  discovered 


DIES   AT  TRICHINOPOLV. 


231- 


that  a  veesel  had  burst  on  the  brain,  in  con- 
sequence, as  the  medical  men  agreed,  of  the 
sudden  plunge  into  the  water  whilst  he  was 
warm  and  exhausted.  His  remains  were  de- 
posited, with  every  mark  of  respect  and  un- 
feigned sorrow,  on  the  north  side  of  the  altar 
of  St.  John's  church  at  Trichinopoly. 

'The  disastrous  intelligence  of  his  decease 
was  communicated  with  every  caution  to  his 
unfortunate  widow  (who  had  been  left  at  Cal- 
cutta with  her  two  children)  by  her  relation, 
Lord  Combermere.  She  is  left  to  mourn  an 
irreparable  loss,  but  not  without  that  resigna- 
tion and  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  Provi- 
dence, which  the  precepts  and  example  of  her 
husband  were  so  calculated  to  inspire  and 
confirm  in  her  mind. 

'  True  it  is  (says  the  same  writer*)  that  an 
apparent  accident  was  the  immediate  cause 
of  the  abrupt  termination  of  the  Bishop's  life, 
but  it  may  well  be  thought  that  his  constitu- 
tion was  becoming  more  frail  and  susceptible 
of  injury  through  his  unremitted  exertions — 
exertions  which  he  was  led  to  make  by  habits 


*  Quarterly  Review,  No.  LXX. 


232 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


formed  in  a  more  temperate  climate — by  a 
fear  which  beset  him  of  sinking  into  that  su- 
pineness  which  a  residence  in  India  is  so  apt 
to  engender — and  by  a  spirit  thoroughly  inte- 
rested in  the  pursuit  of  the  great  object  before 
him.  So  long  as  this  immense  portion  of  the 
globe,  extending  from  St.  Helena  to  New 
Holland,  is  consigned  to  the  ecclesiastical  su- 
perintendence of  one  mah,  and  that  one  man 
is  not  deterred  from  doing  his  best  by  the  im- 
possibility of  doing  much,  it  is  to  be  feared 
there  must  be  a  certain  waste  of  valuable  life; 
for  what  European,  arriving  in  India  at  the 
age  which  a  bishop  has  usually  reached  be- 
fore he  obtains  his  appointment,  is  likely  to 
preserve  his  health  long,  in  the  midst  of  the 
disquietudes  attending  a  new  establishment — 
remote  from  the  mother  country — incomplete 
in  its  subordinate  parts — in  its  fruits  perpetu- 
ally disappointing  the  hopes  and  efforts  of  the 
labourer — whilst  to  all  this  must  be  added, 
the  extreme  difficulty  (to  say  the  least  of  it)  of 
timing  all  the  journeys  right,  where  so  many, 
and  of  such  length,  must  be  made,  and  of  al- 
ways selecting  for  them  those  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  those  hours  of  the  day,  which  are 
least  deadly. 


CONCLUSION.  iJ33 

*  Thus  died  this  faithful  servant  of  God,  in 
the  43d  year  of  his  age,  and  the  third  of  his 
episcopacy,  labouring  to  the  last  in  the  cause 
that  was  nearest  his  heart,  and,  like  Fletcher 
ofMadely,  almost  expiring  in  the  very  act  of 
duty.  The  world  may  honour  his  memory  as 
it  will,  though  such  as  were  best  acquainted 
with  him  can  scarcely  hope  that  it  should  do 
him  justice;  for  he  had  attached  himself  to  no 
party,  either  in  church  or  state,  and  therefore 
had  secured  no  party-advocates;  and  of  forms, 
by  which  mankind  at  large  (for  the  want  of  less 
fallacious  means  of  estimating  character)  are 
almost  compelled  to  abide,  he  was  not,  per- 
haps, a  very  diligent  observer:  but  in  India  a 
strong  sense  of  his  worth  has  manifested  itself, 
as  it  were  by  acclamation.  At  Madras,  a 
meeting  was  held,  a  few  days  after  his  death, 
in  the  Government  Gardens,  the  excellent  Sir 
Thomas  Munro  in  the  chair,  where  to  say  that 
lamentation  was  made  over  him  would  be  a 
weak  word — there  was  a  burst  of  affectionate 
feeling,  which  proves,  were  proof  wanting,  how 
grievous  a  loss  the  cause  of  Christianity  has 
sustained  in  the  removal  of  an  advocate  whose 
heart  and  head  were  equally  fitted  to  recom- 
20^ 


234 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


mend  it.  A  subscription  was  forthwith  com- 
menced on  a  scale  of  Indian  munificence,  for  a 
monument,  to  be  erected  to  him  in  St.  George's 
church  ;  and  this  was  taken  up  with  the 
warmest  zeal  everywhere,  and  among  all  ranks 
and  conditions  of  men  throughout  the  presi- 
dency.* At  Bombay  it  was  determined  to 
found  a  scholarship  for  that  presidency,  at  the 
college  at  Calcutta,  to  be  called  Bishop  He- 
ber's  Scholarship — a  testimony  of  respect  the 
most  appropriate  that  could  have  been  devis- 
ed; and  examples  so  generous  have  not  been 
lost  upon  the  capital  of  Bengal. 

'  It  is  very  pleasing  to  hear  all  this.  Still, 
none  could  know  him  truly  as  he  was,  without 
visiting  (as  we  have  often  done)  the  parish 
where  he  had  chiefly  resided  from  his  child- 
hood upwards — where  he  had  been  as  the  son, 
the  husband,  the  father,  the  brother,  the  mas- 
ter, above  all,  as  the  shepherd  of  the  flock. 
There,  we  are  told,  the  tidings  of  his  death 
were  received  by  all  as  if  each  had  lost  a  per- 
sonal friend  ;  and  though  a  considerable  in- 
terval had  elapsed  since  he  bade  them  fare- 

*  The  native  subscriptions  in  the  lifts  are  numerous,  be- 
yond what  we  could  iiave  believed. 


CONCLUSION. 


235 


well,  their  sorrow  was  as  fresh  as  if  he  had 
just  breathed  his  last  under  that  roof  which, 
in  doubt,  in  difficultyj  and  in  distress,  had  so 
frequently  been  their  refuge.  These  are  ar- 
guments of  his  worth  the  most  genuine  that 
can  be  offered,  and  which  it  would  now  be  in- 
jurious to  suppress  ;  others  may  speak  of  the 
richness  of  his  conversation,  the  playfulness  of 
his  fancy,  the  delicacy  of  his  taste,  of  the  al- 
most unequalled  vigour  and  retentiveness  of 
his  memory,  which,  had  it  not  been  over- 
shadowed by  higher  intellectual  qualities, 
would  alone  have  constituted  him  an  extraor- 
dinary man — of  that  memory  which  always 
supplied  him  with  the  apposite  quotation,  the 
suitable  illustration,  the  decisive  authority — 
but  it  has  been  the  main  object  of  these  pages 
(however  imperfectly  attained)  to  discover 
something  of  "  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart," 
and  to  hold  out  to  those  who  cannot  hope  to 
rival  the  high  endowments  of  Bishop  Heber, 
or  to  follow  him  in  the  public  and  splendid 
parts  of  his  career,  the  imitation  of  those  vir- 
tues which  the  under-current,  as  well  as  the 
palpable  course,  of  his  life  presented — of  his 
charity,  his  humility,  his  abandonment  of  eve- 


236 


BISHOP  HEBER. 


ry  selfish  feeling,  his  piety,  at  once  enthusias- 
tic and  practical,  exhibited  in  the  unobtrusive 
and  heartfelt  purity  of  his  own  life,  and  in  the 
tempered  fervour  and  happy  fruits  of  his  la- 
bours as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.' 


(  237  ) 


INSCRIPTION 

ON  THE 

MONUMENT  ERECTED  IN  MEJIORY 

OF 

BISHOP  HEBER 

AT  MADRAS. 
Composed  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Robinson, M.A. 


M.  S. 

TIRI  ADMODUM  REVEBENDI   ET  IN  CHBISTO  l"ATR13 

REGINALDI  HEBER  S.  T.  P. 

PHIMO  COLLEGII   ^NEI    NASI    IN    ACADEMIA    OXONIENSI  ALUMNI 
COLLEGII    DEINDE  OMNIUM  ANIMARUM  90CII 
PAROCHia:    HODNET  IN  AGRO  SUO   NATALI  SAL0PIEN3I 
RKCT0RI3 

APVD  SOCIETATEM  HONORABILEM  HOSPITII  LINCOLNIE N9I3 
PRjKDICATORIS 
POSTREMO  AUTEM  EPISCOPI  CAIX'UTTENSIS 
qui   IN   IPSO   ADOLESCENTI.T,  FLORE 
INGENII  FAHA 
HUMANITATIS  CULTU 
OMNIGEN3C<lUE  DOCTRIN.*;  LAUDE 
ORNATISSIMUS 


(  238  ) 


EA  OMNIA  IN  COMMUNEM  ECCLESIiE  FRUCTUM  AFFEKENS 
3E  SUAQUE  DEO  HUM4LLIME  CONSECRAVIT 
IN  SANCTISSIMUM  EPISC0PATU3  ORDINEM 
BONIS   OMNIBUS  H0RTANTIBU3  ADSCRIPTUS 
ECCLESI-t  APUD  IND03   ANGLICANS  INFANTIAM 
WON  PRO  VIRIBUS  SED  ULTRA  VIRES 
USqUE  AD   VlTiE  JACTURAM 
ALUIT  FOVIT  SUSTENTAVIT 
ADMIRABILI  INOENII  CANDORE 
SUAVISSIMA  MORUM  SIMPLICITATE 
DIVINAQUE  ANIMI  BENEVOLENTIA 
USqUE  ADEO   OMNES  SIBl  VINXERAT 
UT  MORTUUM 
ECCLE3IA  UNIVER3A  PATREM 
ETIAM  EXTERI   PATRONUM  CARISSIMUM 
DESIDERARENT 
NATUS  DIE  APRIUS  XXI  A.  D.  MDCCLXXXIII 
SUBITA  MORTE  PRJIREPTUS  JUXTA  URBEM  TRICHI NOPOLIM 
MORTALES  EXUVIAS  DEP03UIT  APRILIS  DIE  III 
ANWO  SALUTI3    MDCCCXXVI  SVIE   XLIII   EPISCOPATUS  III 

MADRA3EN3ES 
NON  SOLUM  CHRISTIANI   SED  ET  ETHNIC! 
PRINCIPES  MAGNATES  PAUPERES 
AD  HOC  MARMOR  EXSTRUENDUM 
UNO  CONSENSU  ADFUERE. 


(  239  ) 


TRIBUTE 

TO  THE 

MEMORY  OF  BISHOP  HEBER. 


If  it  be  sad,  to  speak  of  treasures  gone. 
Of  sainted  genius  called  too  soon  away. 

Of  light,  from  this  world  taken  while  it  shone. 
Yet  kindling  onward  to  tlie  perfect  day — 

How  shall  our  grief,  if  mournful  these  tilings  be. 

Flow  forth,  O  guide  and  gifted  friend  !  for  thee'? 

Hath  not  thy  voice  been  here  amongst  us  heard  ? 

And  that  deep  soul  of  gentleness  and  power. 
Have  we  not  felt  its  breath  in  every  word. 

Wont  from  thy  lip,  as  Hermon's  dew,  to  shower 
Yes  !  in  our  hearts  thy  fervent  thouglits  have  burned — 
Of  heaven  they  were,  and  thither  are  retuni'd. 

How  sliall  we  mourn  thee  1 — Witli  a  lofty  trust. 
Our  life's  immortal  birthright  from  above ! 

With  a  glad  faitli,  whose  eye,  to  track  the  just, 
Tlirough  shades  and  mysteries  lifts  a  glance  of  love. 

And  yet  can  weep  ! — for  Nature  so  deplores 

The  friend  that  leaves  us,  though  for  happier  shores 


(  240  ) 

And  otie  high  tone  of  ti  hunph  o'er  tliy  bier. 
One  strain  of  solemn  rapture  be  allowed  ! 

Thou  that,  rejoicing  on  thy  mid  [career. 
Not  to  decay,  but  unto  death  hast  bow'd  ! 

In  those  bright  regions  of  the  rising  sun. 

Where  Victory  ne'er  a  crown  like  thine  hath  won. 

Praise,  for  yet  one  more  name,  with  power  endowed. 
To  cheer  and  guide  us  onward  as  we  press, 

Yet  one  more  image  on  the  heart  bestowed. 
To  dwell  there — beautiful  in  holiness  ! 

Thine  !  Heber  tliine  !  whose  memory  from  the  dead 

Shines  as  the  star,  which  to  the  Saviour  led. 

Felicia  Hemans. 


THE  END. 


Date  Due 


1^ 


11 


f 


